TOPIK - Exam Hall Tips

TOPIK - Exam Hall Tips

In the first part of TOPIK TIPS, we gave you some tips on how you can prepare for TOPIK test in an effective manner. In this part we will be discussing what kind of precautions u need to take in the exam hall and what is the right way to attempt the TOPIK papers. 

1. Don't bring anything to Exam Hall except your admit card- I have seen many examinees bringing pencils, pens, sharpener, eraser, ruler and even books and dictionaries sometimes. :) Believe me, last time study of vocabulary and grammar will make you no good, it will only stress you up; so leave those bulky books and notes behind in your book shelf and instead crack some jokes with friends when you are waiting to hear the start bell. Probably they will not allow any stationary into the exam hall. You have to color the OMR answer sheet with a special pen that they will provide you. If you make any mistake and want to change your answer, you just have to raise your hand and the invigilator will come to you and remove the wrong mark with whitener.   
2. Attempt all Questions- Never leave any question un-attempted. As TOPIK has a multiple-choice question pattern and it has no negative marking scheme, you have nothing to lose even if you mark all the questions wrong. And remember that even your 100% random guess has a 25% chances of turning to be the right answer. So after solving all the questions you know, try to use the elimination method. It means you try to eliminate the answer options that you are sure are not correct one by one and in the end give your luck a try. And when you see you have only a few seconds left and you have some questions unanswered, remember your God or angel and just randomly mark A, B, C or D to all, ;)
3. Don't spend much time on difficult questions- they intentionally put some difficult or tricky questions in the middle of the papers. Don't waste too much time on them, just make a smart guess and move ahead. If you have time remaining in the end you can come back to them (Mostly people can't ;)
4. Make a strategy in advance which section to attempt first- There is no single strategy that works for everyone. While solving TOPIK papers during preparations, analyze which strategy works best for you. Some students prefer to solve a particular section or type of questions first.
5. If possible, Try to do the writing essay question first- It was my strategy, you can have your own. I think, if you write the essay in the beginning, you write it better because in last you are in hurry and you can't get good ideas and also make many mistakes. When you finish it in the beginning you feel relaxed that you have completed a big part of the paper and you can concentrate properly on rest of the paper. But even if you don't do it in the beginning at least read it and give 1-2 minutes to make an outline of the essay in your mind. It will make you feel relaxed that you have the idea and in the end you just have to pen it down.
6. Don't color the answer sheet after every question- This is a very important tip. While solving TOPIK papers during preparations I realized that you save a few minutes if you color the answer sheets after solving every 8-10 questions rather than coloring it after solving every single question. So just mark the answer on the question paper itself and color the answer sheet when you have got a good no. of answers piled up. Be careful! make sure you are marking the circles of right questions.  
7. Don't jump on conclusion after just reading the first option- The answer options in the TOPIK papers are really tricky. Sometimes they are nearly the same. So make sure to read all the given options and choose the most appropriate one.
8. Read the Instructions very carefully- Especially for the questions with "Choose the right/wrong.." Sometimes students just see the first option, they finds it perfectly right and mark it but in fact what they were supposed to do is to choose the wrong one. 
9. Don't think about your girlfriend during Listening Section  ;) - Losing your concentration for only a few seconds may spoil a good part of your listening paper. So just close your eyes and concentrate on the sound. It really helps to read the question and answer options before you hear the question text. All the question are repeated so you have marked the answer after just listening the first part, utilize the time to read the next question in advance when the last one is being repeated. but you have any doubt about your answer always listen it the second time. 
10. Be careful about listening texts upon which more than two questions are based-  In the last parts of the listening section, sometimes more than one questions are based on one text. So be careful and read the instructions carefully.
11. Take notes while listening the text- Sometimes data and facts come in the questions that you can't remember later while solving it. So keep taking small notes of them. You can also use this technique while solving the long paragraph questions in Reading Section. 
12. Always use the plain or formal/polite form of sentence ending- In the essay writing section you should always  write in Plain diary form (다/ㄴ다/는다). Beginners can use the formal polite ending (ㅂ니다/습니다). Never use the casual spoken form (아요/어요) or lower form (아/어) of language.

All the Best... :)