TOPIK2 writing is the most difficult test for many people! The most frequently mentioned reason for the difficulty of the topik2 writing test is ‘lack of time’. If you solve a total of four questions in order, you may not be able to write the last and difficult question 54. If you are a good at it, you may not have enough time because you write too long. I’ll tell you two reasons why TOPIK 2 is difficult to write in relation to the lack of time and a solution first.
Content: Topik2 writing
1. TOPIK2 writing, if you answer questions 51 to 53 correctly, you get 50 points!
As I said before, I think the key point of TOPIK2 writing is question 51-53.
The fastest and concise way to increase your score on TOPIK2 writing is to answer all 51, 52, and 53 questions, which are relatively easy compared to question 54 where you need to write an essay. If you get all 51 and 52 right, you get 10 points each, a total of 20 points. Question 53 worth 30 points and in total of 50 points when you get all of them right. The average score for TOPIK2 writing is 30-40 points, so 50 points is high enough.
If you have high reading and listening scores while studying for TOPIK 2, but low writing scores, please focus more on solving questions 51 to 53 that can increase your score relatively quickly, rather than focusing too much on question 54.
Usually, question 51 is about checking intermediate-level vocabulary and expressions, so if you know the basic expressions, you can solve them easily.
If you don’t know, it’s okay. You can get a point to solve the question from the context.
In the above question, the ㉠ is asking for expressions related to ‘past experience’. You can get a hint from the sentence ‘별도 보고’ in the question. The answer is 별을 + 보다 + past experience expression(V-(으)ㄴ 적이 있다/없다), [ 본 적이 ] the answer.
The ㉡ can be easily solved if you know the expression ‘경험’ + ‘다시’. ‘경험하다’ + ‘다시하다’ is the hint of context and the answer is [ 하고 싶습니다. ]
One thing to aware of the fact for in question 51 is that the end of the sentence should be written in formal form as shown in the question!
And question 52 is to ask if the writing is longer and about the understanding the content. In this question, you can solve the words that are going to be in the blank very easily if you find a similar expression in the question. Think of it as a one-word puzzle!
If you know the use of ‘실제로’, you can solve it easily. ‘실제로’is used to give examples. So if you know that the content of the preceding sentence is the same as the content of the sentence that’s going to come after ‘실제로’, then [ 도움이 된다 ] can come as a ㉠’s answer.
Next, if you look at each of the uses of ‘왜냐하면 and ‘따라서’ you use it to explain the reason or to continue the preceding sentence.
㉡ is along with ‘왜냐하면 ~이/기 때문이다’ expression ‘따라서’ so, [ 방해하기 때문이다 ] the answer according to the next sentence.
The above 2 questions will be covered in more detail in the next post!
2. Get rid of the idea that it is required difficult and complicated words.
It’s the thought and mistake most often especially for those who practice question 54! If you look at someone who is good at speaking or writing, you can see that they don’t write words or expressions that no one will understand, but write expressions that everyone knows appropriately according to the situation.
Rather than writing sentences too long, it’s better to give a short and concise but accurate message!
This is the attitude we must have when practicing TOPIK2 writing.
It is better to use expressions that I know well and that are highly utilized than to use too difficult and complicated expressions and sentence structures.
If anyone uses advanced words in a tense test place, it will cause a mistake. These mistakes lead to a drop in scores. Let’s take a look at the next example?
There are times when I don’t have a clue what I’m saying because I try to put too many topics in one sentence. In this case, you have to boldly make the sentence short. If a sentence is short and contains a precise meaning, it will never be deducted.
If the message you want to convey is A, you should be able to contain A briefly in one sentence.
Looking at the complex sentence above, A is “I can acquire language knowledge (language habits, etc.) through language study, and understand the country through local news and issues.”. Here, A in a simple sentence says, “Understand cultural and social issues with language knowledge gained through language study.” / “Understanding culture is an advantage of language study.”It’s divided into two parts and it throws a more accurate message.
The first thing to do is to cut off sentences in units of meaning and write them down in accurate expressions.
3. Don’t use Speaking expressions in TOPIK2 Writing!
In Korean expressions, even if they have the same meaning, the expressions used when speaking and writing are different. Let’s take a look at an example.
If you change the expression ‘-니까’, which emphasizes that the previous word is the cause or the basis, to a writing expression, you can write ‘-ㅁ으로써’.
‘이상하게 생각 안 하고’ can be changed into ‘이해하다’, The easiest way to check whether it’s speaking expression or writing expression is to read the TOPIK reading frequently. Because if you prepare TOPIK, you will definitely have a reading book! I’ll tell you how to do it other than this.
4. Don’t just memorize the sample essays.
You only need to memorize the sample answer for question 53. However, question 54 is a different story.
The topic of question 54 changes every time you take a test. It is said that topics such as culture, society, technology, and general are usually presented, but the scope is too wide to predict. Still, the types of problems can be divided into ‘problem solving’, ‘assertive essay’, and ‘topic explanation’.
Most people usually try to memorize the best answers for the topics that come out often and write them as they are, but I never recommend them.
Rather, it is more effective to memorize sentence patterns that are often used in TOPIK writing types.
It’s inefficient to memorize only sample essay when you don’t know what topics will come out. If it’s for the purpose of understanding sentence structure, that’s fine.
Let me tell you some of the common sentence patterns in question 54.
- N(이)란 [-은/는] N이다.
ex. 창의력이란 새로운 방식으로 문제를 해결하는 힘이다.
- A/V-(으)ㄴ것은 A/V-(으)ㄴ것이다.
ex. 도시 생활의 좋은 점은 일상생활이 편리하다는 점이다.
- V-기 위해서는 -아/어야 하다
ex. 성공하기 위해서는 열심히 노력해야 한다.
- V-기 위해서는 N이/가 필요하다
ex. 청소년기에 다양한 경험을 얻기 위해서는 조기 교육이 필요하다.
- 앞에서 말한 바와 같이
ex. 앞에서 말한 바와 같이 청소년들의 과도한 휴대폰 사용은 심각한 문제가 있다.
Even if you can make good use of the sentence patterns above, you will no longer be afraid of question 54!
The best example answer is the one you wrote yourself, got feedback, and revised it again.
5. Don’t write without a logical structure.
The most important thing to look out for in TOPIK2 Writing question 54 is “logic.” In other words, it’s also called “consistency of writing.”
The logic of the article can generally be judged by whether the basis for the argument is valid and whether the example complements the argument well.
Question 54 is not much different. Because it’s basically “writing my argument” on a given topic.
But to make the ‘logic of writing’ easier, the logic of writing in 54 can be said to be 1, 2, and 3 of each given task. If you look at the example below, you’ll understand more.
The answer to task 1, that is, writing down the text so that it connects well with task 2 and 3, is a tight connection of the text.
In other words, the logic of the writing and the consistency of the writing are the key points that lead to a high score in TOPIK2 writing in question 54.
Here you can see that logical writing, that is, topic sentence, reason, and examples, is complementary writing.
Do you want to study Korean more? Do you want to study TOPIK2 writing more?
Click the link below to sign up for the class. TOPIK2 writing class
You can receive class consultation through KakaoTalk. Chapter Korean KakaoTalk
Chapter Korean provides intermediate and advanced Korean language education. Study TOPIK2 Writing with us.