How to Use 10 TOPIK I Reading Practice Tests (Without Wasting Them)

Ten practice tests feel like a lot, until you finish the first one in a rush, check the score, and move on. A practice test is only useful the first time you see it, because after that you remember the answers instead of reading. So the real question is not how many tests you own, but how you spend each one.

This is the order we recommend. It is also the order our TOPIK I reading workbook is built in: ten tests of 40 questions each, with one page per question type placed before the tests.

Step 1: Learn the question types before you time yourself

TOPIK I reading repeats a small set of question types. Reading a notice, matching a short text to a picture, choosing the sentence that fits, finding the main idea: each type has its own way to solve it and its own small set of words that keep coming back. Spend a first session only on the types, with no timer, and write down the solving method in your own words.

Step 2: Take the first test without the clock

For test 1, read every question slowly and mark the ones where you guessed. A guess that happens to be right is not knowledge, and it will hide a weak spot from you. Check the answers and read the explanation for every question you marked, not just the ones you got wrong.

Step 3: Add the clock from test 2

From the second test on, time yourself. If you run out of time, do not push for speed in everything. Find the question types that slow you down and go back to the type pages for those.

Step 4: Keep an error log

• Write the question type and the reason you missed it: unknown word, misread sentence, ran out of time, or careless mistake.
• Copy the unknown word with the sentence it appeared in. One word with a sentence is easier to remember than a list of words.
• Before each new test, read the log once. After three tests you will see the same two or three reasons repeating.

If you want to see what a unit looks like before you buy anything, the book page has a free sample.