by Seolhwa

If someone had told me six years ago that I would reach this level in Korean, I wouldn’t have believed it.

But the results of the 102nd TOPIK II exam are out, and I can officially say that I achieved Level 6. This came after taking the exam three times and getting Level 5 twice. It felt like the highest level was always out of reach, but this time I did it and I’m honestly quite proud (even if I got exactly the 230 points required for this level).

TIPS FOR THE EXAM

We’ve shared TOPIK tips in other posts, so if you want more details, you can read them here: From Level 5 to Level 6: my methods for Passing the TOPIK II Exam or Tips and tricks for TOPIK II. But in short, if you want a high score (5급 or 6급), doing past papers and learning the vocabulary that appears there is essential.

SO WHAT NOW?

With this achievement (one that took me almost six years) I started wondering: What’s next in my Korean language journey? I still don’t feel comfortable calling myself fluent. My Korean is not yet at the same level as my English, which was the first foreign language I learned.

My goal now is to reach a point where Korean comes naturally to me. How do I plan to do that? By consuming as much media as possible. For written content, mainly novels; for visual media, Korean TV programs and series in my free time. If you’re interested in watching Korean TV (or TV from around the world), I recommend the website tv.garden.

I also plan to continue retaking the TOPIK in the future to track my improvement over time.

It’s been quite a long journey to get here, but I don’t regret a thing. Learning Korean has given me so many unique experiences, and I’m excited to see what awaits me on the other side of fluency.