EPS-TOPIK listening: how to prepare for the 20 audio questions

Listening is half of your EPS-TOPIK score: 20 questions and 50 points. It’s also the section where candidates who learned only from books struggle most, because the audio moves at its own pace. The fix is simple but needs consistency: train your ear every single day.

The format

According to HRD Korea, the full test has 40 questions in 50 minutes:

• Reading: 20 questions, 25 minutes, 50 points.
• Listening: 20 questions, 25 minutes, 50 points.

All questions are multiple choice with four options.

Question types to expect

Listening questions in EPS-TOPIK generally fall into a few groups:

• Picture questions: you hear a word or sentence and choose the matching picture, such as a tool, a place or an action.
• Short dialogues: two people talk, and you answer a question about what they said or what happens next.
• Choosing the right reply: you hear a question or statement and pick the most natural response.
• Workplace situations: instructions, safety warnings, or a conversation between a worker and a manager.
• Information details: times, days, prices, numbers and places.

Five skills to train

1. Numbers, times and days

Korean has two number systems. Native Korean numbers (하나, 둘, 셋) are used for hours and counting things; Sino-Korean numbers (일, 이, 삼) are used for minutes, dates, money and phone numbers. 세 시 삼십 분 is 3:30. Practise both until you hear them instantly.

2. Recognising words by sound

Words you can read may still be hard to catch in speech, because sounds join together. For example, 한국어 is heard as han-gu-geo. Learn new words with audio from the start, not just the spelling.

3. Listening for the key point

You don’t need to understand every word. Before the audio plays, read the question and options so you know what to listen for, such as where, when or what will he do.

4. Polite workplace speech

Instructions at work use polite endings: -세요 (please do), -지 마세요 (please don’t). 들어가지 마세요 means “don’t go in”. The difference between doing and not doing something often comes down to that ending, so listen to the end of every sentence.

5. Staying calm when you miss something

If you miss a question, choose your best guess and focus on the next one immediately. Dwelling on a lost question costs you the next one too.

A daily routine (30 minutes)

1. 10 minutes of word audio: listen to and repeat the day’s vocabulary.
2. 10 minutes of dialogues: listen to short workplace conversations, first without text, then with the script, then without again.
3. 10 minutes of test questions: answer 5–10 real-format listening questions and check every mistake. Was it a word you didn’t know, a number, or a missed ending?

Keep a notebook of every word you failed to catch by ear. Review it weekly.

Make listening part of your day

Put Korean audio on while you travel, cook or exercise. Even background listening builds familiarity with the rhythm of the language. Then use focused practice, like the routine above, to turn that familiarity into correct answers.

Use the official materials

HRD Korea publishes the official EPS-TOPIK textbook and practice materials, including audio, free on its EPS-TOPIK website. They’re the closest thing to the real test.

Practise on Prepyo

Prepyo’s EPS-TOPIK practice includes listening questions with recorded Korean audio in the real test format, and premium members can open “Help in English” to see the whole question in English while learning. The Learn Korean course builds the vocabulary first, with audio for every word. For a full study plan, read how to prepare for EPS-TOPIK without an academy.