How I improved my TOPIK reading speed

The reading section gave me the most trouble at first. 70 minutes for 50 questions means less than 1.5 minutes per question. Here's how I doubled my reading speed:

Technique 1: Read the questions first. Before reading the passage, look at what the question is asking. This way you know what information to look for and can skip irrelevant parts.

Technique 2: Learn to skim. For most questions, you don't need to understand every word. Look for key nouns, verbs, and grammar patterns that answer the question.

Technique 3: Build vocabulary systematically. I made a spreadsheet of every unknown word from past TOPIK papers. Reviewed 50 words daily. After going through 10 past exams, I started recognizing 80% of the vocabulary.

Technique 4: Time yourself religiously. Do practice sets under real time pressure. I used a timer app and forced myself to move on after 1.5 minutes regardless of whether I finished the question.

My reading score went from 42 to 78 in 3 months using these techniques. Consistency is key!