TOPIK awards six levels across two papers. What those levels are worth is less standardised than the internet suggests, and we would rather tell you that than make something up.
Korean is graded by TOPIK. TOPIK I awards levels 1 and 2, TOPIK II awards levels 3 to 6, and your level is decided by your score rather than by which paper you sat.
TOPIK has no official CEFR mapping. Any A1 to C2 equivalence you see quoted for Korean is someone’s interpretation, not a published alignment, so work to the TOPIK level your university or employer names.
TOPIK is run by NIIED under Korea's Ministry of Education. You do not choose your level; you choose a paper, and the score decides the level you are awarded.
| Paper | Duration | Structure | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| TOPIK I | 100 minutes, one session | Listening 30 questions in 40 min, Reading 40 questions in 60 min, all multiple choice | 200 points |
| TOPIK II | 180 minutes, two sessions | Session 1: Listening 50 questions and Writing 4 questions in 110 min. Session 2: Reading 50 questions in 70 min | 300 points |
| Level | Paper | Score needed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | TOPIK I | 80 of 200 |
| 2 | TOPIK I | 140 of 200 |
| 3 | TOPIK II | 120 of 300 |
| 4 | TOPIK II | 150 of 300 |
| 5 | TOPIK II | 190 of 300 |
| 6 | TOPIK II | 230 of 300 |
Unlike the JLPT there are no sectional minimums, only the total. Writing in TOPIK II includes two short answers and two essays of 200 to 300 and 600 to 700 characters.
A separate internet-based test, six questions in thirty minutes, scored out of 200, launched in November 2022. Bands run from Grade 1 at 20 to 49 up to Grade 6 at 160 to 200. We could not confirm that TOPIK Speaking is offered outside Korea, and reporting suggests it runs at domestic IBT centres. We check availability for each student rather than promising a sitting we cannot verify.
TOPIK has no official CEFR mapping. NIIED has never published an equivalence table. The only links that exist are academic studies in Korean language education journals. Any site telling you "TOPIK 4 equals B2" is asserting something no awarding body has said. We mention this because it is the kind of detail that decides whether a university actually accepts your application, and because a consultancy that invents a mapping will invent other things too.
Similarly, the widely repeated rule that you need TOPIK 3 to enter a Korean university and TOPIK 4 to graduate is common institutional practice, not a national requirement. The Korean government's own Study in Korea portal says only that requirements vary by university and department, and that applicants should check directly. We check the specific department, every time.
India is not an EPS sending country. The Employment Permit System, and its EPS-TOPIK exam, operates with seventeen MOU countries and India is not among them. If anyone is marketing EPS-TOPIK to you as a route to work in Korea from India, they are selling something that does not exist. EPS-TOPIK is also a completely different exam from the academic TOPIK.
India. Administered by the Korean Education Centre, a Korean government agency. 2026 sittings run across Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and Manipur, with five dates through the year. Reported fees are ₹1,200 for TOPIK I and ₹1,500 for TOPIK II.
UAE. Administered by the Korean Cultural Center UAE. The April 2026 sitting ran at Yas Creative Hub on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, offering both TOPIK I and II, at AED 170 and AED 200.
We could not confirm whether the internet-based format is yet available in India or the UAE, where only paper sittings were verified. Worth asking your centre when you register.
Score validity is two years from the results announcement date.
A language is only worth the hours if it clears the bar your destination sets. TAICF, our own assessment framework, reads your target countries and courses and tells you the level to aim for, the certificate that proves it, and how it fits around your exams.
How TAICF worksFive things are in every language programme we run, whatever the language and whatever the level you start at.
Every programme includes dedicated one to one sessions with your own teacher for the questions that came up after class. Booked when you need them, not parked until the next group session.
The recording reaches you the same day, every time. Miss a class for a school exam, a work trip or a bad week and you have not missed the lesson. It is also the fastest revision tool you will have in the last fortnight.
Complete papers in the official format, timed, including the oral. Most candidates lose marks to the format rather than the language, and a mock is the cheapest place to find that out.
Before you start, we set the target and the timeline. Midway, we reset it against your mock results. Before you book the exam, we confirm you are sitting the right version on the right date. Teaching without this is just hours.
The whole course can run one to one rather than in a cohort. Your own teacher, your own pace, sessions timed around school or work, and the syllabus reordered around what you actually need first.
Every language programme is mapped to a named certificate and a named level from day one, because a certificate is what a university, an employer or a mission will actually accept. Hours studied prove nothing on an application.
Your teacher works to the examining body’s own marking criteria, and your mock papers come back with the score per paper rather than a single overall comment.
TOPIK 3 to enter and TOPIK 4 to graduate is the widely used benchmark, but it is institutional practice rather than a government rule. The Korean government says requirements vary by university and department. We check your specific programme.
No, not officially. NIIED publishes no equivalence table. Only academic linking studies exist. Be sceptical of any site presenting a TOPIK to CEFR chart as authoritative.
We could not confirm that TOPIK Speaking is offered outside Korea, and available reporting points to domestic Korean internet-based centres only. We verify availability before building it into anyone's plan.
Not from India. India is not one of the seventeen EPS sending countries, so the EPS route and its EPS-TOPIK exam are not open to Indian nationals. Korean still has value for study, for Korean companies operating in India and the Gulf, and for academic routes, but not for EPS.
There is no official NIIED study-hours figure, so any number you see is someone's estimate. We will give you ours based on your starting point and hours per week, and we will label it as an estimate.
We start with a short conversation and a level check, so you join at the right level rather than repeating what you already know. Classes run at Gurugram and Dubai Silicon Oasis, in person and online, in small cohorts, or one to one.
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