Reading and Responding Skills
What you must know
Reading tasks use notices, timetables, messages, letters, diary entries and short articles. You must decode text type quickly, locate specific information, understand purpose, and infer meaning from context. Core grammar includes particles (은/는, 이/가, 을/를, 에, 에서, 에게), connectives (그리고, 하지만, 그래서, -면, -어서), and verb endings (-고 싶다, -아/어야 하다, -(으)ㄹ 거예요).
Reading procedure
- Identify the text type from layout and set phrases (안내, 공지, 초대합니다, 사랑하는 …에게).
- Skim for structure - headings, dates, times, prices, names.
- Read the question first, then scan for the matching line; do not translate the whole text word by word.
- Check every option against the text and eliminate those that contradict it.
Traps
- True/false style options that are grammatically correct but not stated in the text - “not mentioned” is not “true”.
- Negated statements: 입장할 수 없습니다 means entry is not allowed; students often read only the verb stem.
- Time and date shifts: a notice may say the event was moved (장소가 바뀌었습니다).
- Particles: 에 is direction/time, 에서 is location of action; mixing them changes meaning.
- Pronouns omitted: Korean drops subjects, so track who is being discussed across sentences.
- Vocabulary in context: 크다 can mean “big” or “tall”; choose the reading that fits.
Worked example
Notice: “토요일 오후 두 시에 도서관에서 한국어 영화를 봅니다. 무료입니다.” Question: How much is the film? Options: 2,000 won, free, 2 won. The number 두 시 is a decoy; 무료 means free. Answer: 무료.
Rule of thumb
Treat each reading text as a map: locate the keyword from the question on the page, read the sentence containing it plus the one before and after, then answer.