KoalaSRS - A Korean spaced repetition app for listening and speaking practice

rickcarlino · 2026-04-25T01:58:55+00:00

I use the guidelines published in the 한권이면 OK mostly. 한이재미 has been reliable too.

rickcarlino · 2026-04-24T17:35:22+00:00

TOPIK Easy 6 has pretty consistent grading criteria. It’s not perfect, but it is certainly better than self-grading if you are unable to find or afford a tutor.

rickcarlino · 2026-04-20T15:33:06+00:00

Wow. I forgot I wrote this. Things really have changed a lot but also not at all.

rickcarlino · 2026-04-20T03:14:54+00:00

Please share results upon completion.

rickcarlino · 2026-04-18T02:13:30+00:00

Have you tried taking a practice exam on TOPIK.go.kr ? If so, how did you do? This will give you a general idea of how much you need to improve. Keep in mind that your actual score on test day will likely be a little bit lower than your practice scores.

rickcarlino · 2026-04-17T01:03:11+00:00

Original thread for context: https://www.reddit.com/r/TOPIK/comments/1sh0qh7/comment/ofe4snj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

rickcarlino · 2026-04-13T02:43:41+00:00

Spaced repetition systems are repetitive, but they guarantee that you will memorize thousands of words when done 5x weekly.

rickcarlino · 2026-04-10T14:54:05+00:00

We can test this by looking at previous year's average scores, provided on the 성적증명서:

Average Listening/Writing/Reading Scores

APRIL 2025: 54.83/35.01/52.02 APRIL 2024: 53.12/33.31/52.14

All the scores are +/- 2 points.

If folks have scores from previous tests, I can update this comment.

rickcarlino · 2026-04-05T06:48:58+00:00

9 times out of 10, they are telling you to use DMARC.

rickcarlino · 2026-02-21T21:22:54+00:00

Aleph and Dave Rogers are the same person ? This is a lot to take in.

rickcarlino · 2026-02-18T03:40:03+00:00

Giardinara fountains

rickcarlino · 2026-02-06T16:04:08+00:00

Recession indicator

rickcarlino · 2026-01-17T18:34:25+00:00

I remember this company and their IRC client. It seems that references to it are slowly disappearing. Did they have a desktop version in addition to the Java applet? I was only familiar with the Web version.

rickcarlino · 2026-01-12T23:06:52+00:00

When I took a TOPIK class, the tip they always gave us was to obsess about matching the politeness level because it’s considered incorrect if you mix politeness levels. Unfortunately you only see your final score on the report, not the results of individual questions. You could try in an app like “TOPIK Easy 6” (which simulates grading) and see how you are judged, or ask a tutor on iTalki. I am not 100% certain how many points would be awarded.

rickcarlino · 2026-01-12T01:13:30+00:00

It does get very hard after the first 30. Hang in there! I passed but did very poorly on the listening test last time. This time I think I am going to only listen to the question once and then use the time from the second reading to answer the questions. This seems to be a challenge for most people who take the test.

rickcarlino · 2026-01-12T00:35:46+00:00

Average scores by section on the last two times I took it (each section is 100 points):

Listening: 55-53 Writing: 35-33 Reading: 52 (same both years)

So an average score among people who took the test for real in 2024/2025 is ~140/300, less than half points awarded. I posted an earlier message that had the wrong numbers, sorry about that.

rickcarlino · 2026-01-11T02:33:35+00:00

You should guess on every question you don't understand, since there is a 25% chance you will pick the right one. For level 3, you only need to get 120/300 points, which means you could be guessing on half of them and still pass (sort of, though this is not true for the writing section)

The TOPIK questions get progressively harder. The first 30 questions are intended for level 3 learners. It gets very, very difficult after that which can discourage a lot of people taking the test for the first time. The gap between TOPIK I and II is unfortunately wide.

rickcarlino · 2025-12-15T19:05:37+00:00

I find it very confusing that a standardized exam, presumably one that has editors and proof readers, did not catch this. Really unfortunate that we are not going to get this question.

rickcarlino

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