TOPIK Speaking Test: Format, Scoring, Levels and Registration

TOPIK Speaking is a separate test from TOPIK I and II. It is 30 minutes long, you speak into a computer at a test centre in Korea, and you get your own score out of 200 with a level from 1 to 6. In 2026 it has three rounds, the last on 24 October. If an employer, a scholarship or a university has asked for proof that you can speak Korean rather than just read it, this is the official test for that.

Here is what the six tasks ask, how they are scored, what the 2026 rounds look like, and how registration works, all from NIIED's own pages and notices as of October 2026.

Quick facts

The six tasks

Each task has a preparation time, then a beep, then a fixed time to speak. These are NIIED's official timings:

The site's free practice test, Solve TOPIK Speaking (in the Study TOPIK menu), shows what these look like. It asks for microphone access before it starts. Its sample paper opens with a practice question (task 0), then:

• Task 2: a taxi scene with a map from a university gate to a dormitory. You play the passenger giving directions.
• Task 3: four panels headed "before the contest" and "contest day", showing a dance team rehearsing, getting nervous backstage, performing and winning first prize. You narrate them in order.
• Task 4: a picture of two people with an empty speech bubble. You listen to the conversation and continue it.
• Later tasks: a graphic of a phone screen showing 3 hours 55 minutes of average daily use, surrounded by the things people use phones for (search, social media, music, photos, video, maps and transport).

During the test, you get a memo sheet and pen in the room and hand them back at the end. You don't bring your own.

How it is scored

NIIED marks every answer on three criteria:

The score is a scaled score out of 200, converted to a level:

Since 6 July 2026, the score report shows only the scaled score and the level. It used to show a percentile too. NIIED says reports issued in the old format remain equally valid.

What a level is good for depends on who asks. The only concrete benefit NIIED states itself is a 3-point bonus for level 4 or above for self-financed applicants to the Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) programme. It also lists university admission, hiring and visa applications as uses, but for each of those it tells you to ask the institution concerned, so check with the university, employer or immigration office. Our guide to TOPIK level requirements covers the regular TOPIK.

2026 dates and what's next

Registration for the 12th round ran from 18 to 24 August 2026 and is closed. When we checked the schedule page on 18 October 2026, no 2027 Speaking dates were listed yet. NIIED published the 2026 plan on 31 October 2025, so expect the 2027 plan on the notice board around the same time.

How registration works

Speaking uses the same account and registration system on topik.go.kr as the paper test (the step-by-step walkthrough is in registering for TOPIK). The 12th-round notice adds these rules:

• Register on Windows. Registration isn't possible on Mac OS or mobile.
• Registration hours were 10:00–16:00 on each day of the window.
• Use a real email address. Disposable email accounts are refused.
• Match your ID exactly. If your English name differs from your ID, you can't sit the test. Check your member details before the window opens.
• Photo: taken within six months, following the Ministry of Justice alien registration photo standard, 413 × 531 pixels, 500 KB or less, JPG or PNG.
• Pay within an hour of applying or the application is cancelled. Card payments must be made by 16:00 that day and virtual-account payments by 23:59. Overseas cards and overseas transfers aren't accepted.
• Pick your venue carefully. You can only sit the test at the venue you registered for. For the 12th round there were 11 venues: Keimyung University (Daegu), Inha Technical College and Incheon National University (Incheon), Gwangju University, Daedeok University and Daejeon Institute of Science and Technology (Daejeon), Kookje University (Gyeonggi), Sehan University's Yeongam campus (South Jeolla), Changwon National University and Geoje University (South Gyeongsang), and Jeju National University. A venue with 15 or fewer applicants is cancelled and its applicants get a full refund.
• Macros are banned. Applications made with automated tools are cancelled without a refund.

Refunds for the 12th round were 100% until 10:00 on the closing day, 50% for the following week, and 40% from then until 13:00 the day before the test.

On the day

For the 12th round, check-in opened at 16:00 and closed at 16:20. The test ran from 17:00 to 17:30. NIIED's pages say you must be in the room at least 40 minutes before the start. Rooms close at the check-in deadline, and you can't leave during the test. Anyone who leaves early waits outside until the end and gets no score.

Bring a valid ID that matches your registration. If you plan to rely on a mobile ID, the notice warns that the venue won't provide Wi-Fi or data for it. You can print the admission ticket from about two weeks before the test, from 12 October for the 12th round. The general test-day rules are in what to bring on TOPIK day.

Take the notice's misconduct rules seriously. Not handing back the memo sheet can void your test. Writing anywhere other than the memo sheet, recording or photographing questions, or carrying a device with AI translation or writing functions can void it and also ban you for two years.

How to prepare

The test is short and the timing is fixed, so practise with a timer from the start. If I were preparing, I'd follow this order:

1. Run the official practice test once to hear the beeps and see the screen. Record yourself and listen back.
2. Task 1–2 drills (week 1): answer everyday questions in 30 seconds and role-play situations (directions, shops, offices) in 40, using full polite sentences.
3. Task 3 (week 2): narrate four-panel stories in 60 seconds. Give one or two sentences per panel and use time connectors (처음에는, 그런데, 결국).
4. Task 4 (week 2): continue a dialogue in 60 seconds. Respond to the last line first, then add a reason or suggestion.
5. Tasks 5–6 (weeks 3–4): use the 70 seconds to plan three points on the memo sheet. For data, cover the main figure, then the comparison, then what it suggests. For opinions, give your view, two reasons and a closing sentence. The 80 seconds go fast.
6. Every day: record one answer and rate it on NIIED's three criteria, especially delivery. Pauses and restarts cost more than one wrong ending.

If you are also sitting the paper TOPIK II, the essay planning for writing question 54 transfers almost directly to task 6. See TOPIK II writing 51–54.