I am SPENT!I slept a bit late last night to review the 18th TOPIK paper one last time. The thing that I worried most was the listening part, because my mind could not sit still for even one second. Hehe..I lost focus very much easily.
Leaving home at 7.45AM and most of the examinees were already loitering around the waiting area at Pusat Bahasa dan Linguistik, UKM. Phew..at least I wasn't late. Just because I forgot where I put my steering wheel lock key, had to run up to the 12th floor (by the elevator of course) and scrambled through my disorganized luggage from Hari Raya travel the day before; I thought that I would be damned even before the exam. ^^
The funny questions that I was asked before taking the exams:
From the guard: "Awak ni Melayu kan? Kenapa ambil periksa Korea?" - You are Malay right? Why you sit for Korean exam?
From another two guys in front of the Pusat Bahasa: "Tak balik raya ke?" - You didn't go back to your hometown to celebrate Eidulfitri?
Arghhh..I had to set this seriously-difficult-to-answer questions aside before I even walked into the exam hall. Aigoo..^^ hehehe..
The examinees mostly were fresh blood. I mean 90ers, late 80ers..hehehe. They are the university students taking the compulsory exams before continuing their studies in Korea. Some of them are coming from mixed marriage, Korean-Chinese family.
I sat for two papers. One was from 9.00AM to 10.30AM for vocabulary and essay writing. Later, they served choco-pie and mineral water for refreshment during the 30 minutes break. The exam was continued with the second part - listening and comprehension from 11.00AM to 12.30Noon.
My verdict: Be prepared. Be well prepared. Just be fully prepared. ^^ The exam was tougher than JLPT (Japanese Proficiency Test) from my point of view. I wished I had studied the Intermediate paper too instead of only the Beginner paper.
How to download TOPIK Exam past years paperGo to official site:
http://topik.or.kr/Click on the 수험정보, then click on 자료실 under the drop
down menu
On the left hand side, under 자료실, click on 기출문제
The list of past year paper for Beginner, Intermediate, Advance
and Business are available for FREE download.
초급(A,B형) 정답지 - Beginner Part A and B Answer Sheet
초급(A,B형) 문제지 - Beginner Part A and B Question Sheet
초급, 중급, 고급 듣기대본 - Beginner, Intermediate, Advance Listening Scenario/Question sheet
초급, 중급, 고급 듣기파일 - Beginner, Intermediate, Advance Listening mp3 file
초급 - Beginner
중급 - Intermediate
고급 - Advance
실무 - Business
Say you want to download the question sheet for beginner level
Click on 2010년도 제18회 초급(A,B형) 문제지 and then
you will see the above site. Just click on the file to download
and for Non-native examinees, you should download B형 part only.
Check out the souvenir from my TOPIK examiner this morning.
An OMR pen..hehehe.
컴퓨터용 - for computer usage
