50 questions + 5 oral · the score-to-stage table
The 사전평가 (pre-evaluation) is the placement test taken on joining KIIP: it measures your level and decides which stage you start from. There is no pass or fail — every score places you in some stage. Any foreigner with an alien registration card can take it; you register online for the dates announced on socinet.go.kr, and places go quickly.
Written part: 50 questions, 60 minutes — 38 multiple-choice Korean language questions, 10 multiple-choice Korean culture questions, 2 short written Korean answers. Oral part: 5 questions, 10 minutes — reading a passage aloud, explaining what you understood, conversation, listening and responding. 100 points in total: written 75, oral 25. Questions run from easy (Hangul, greetings) to hard (newspaper-style passages, Korean history and law) — not being able to answer everything is normal; the test is designed that way.
0–2 points (or under 3 in the oral part): stage 0.
3–20: stage 1.
21–40: stage 2.
41–60: stage 3.
61–80: stage 4.
81–100: stage 5.
A score of 85 or more lets you sit the 영주용 종합평가 directly without attending any stage (the result is valid for 2 years). You must start classes within 2 years of the result being announced.
With a valid TOPIK certificate the 사전평가 is unnecessary — you are placed by TOPIK level (TOPIK 1 → stage 2 … TOPIK 4–6 → stage 5). Compare: TOPIK 3 puts you in stage 4; so does 61–80 on the 사전평가. If you have no TOPIK and have time, 2–3 weeks of preparation for the 사전평가 (official sample questions are on socinet.go.kr) to land a higher stage saves 100–200 hours of classes. Prepare with TOPIK I material plus the early chapters of the 한국사회 이해 textbook for the culture questions.