External Assessment: Examination Technique for Korean (beginners)
What the external assessment tests
The external assessment examines listening, reading, and writing under time pressure, plus an oral component. The design rewards accurate comprehension of short authentic-style texts and controlled production, so technique matters as much as vocabulary.
Concepts you must understand
Particle logic. 이/가 marks the subject or new information; 은/는 marks topic or contrast; 을/를 marks objects; 에 is a destination or time point; 에서 is a location of action or a source. Trap: choosing 은/는 when the sentence introduces brand-new information, which the examiner expects to take 이/가.
Speech level recognition. In listening and reading, identify quickly whether the speaker uses 합니다체, 해요체, or 반말; this signals the relationship between speakers and often answers a comprehension question about who is talking to whom.
Number systems. Native Korean numbers pair with counters (한 명, 두 개, 세 시); Sino-Korean numbers pair with money, dates, and phone numbers (삼천 원, 이월 십오일). Trap: mixing the systems under time pressure.
Inference questions. These ask what a speaker will do next or how they feel, not what they literally said. Look for signal words: 아마, 아직, 벌써, 같이, 혼자.
Worked example and rule of thumb
Question: a short announcement says 내일 오후 세 시에 도서관에서 시험이 있어요. 지각하지 마세요. Which is correct - the exam is at 3 p.m. today, or tomorrow at the library? The particle 에서 marks the location of the event and 세 시 with the native number marks the time; 오후 is p.m.; 내일 is tomorrow. Answer: tomorrow, 3 p.m., library. Rule of thumb: before answering, underline time, place, and action words, then eliminate options that contradict any one of them.
Traps to watch
- Leaving blanks; a plausible guess costs nothing.
- Spending too long on one listening item and missing the next.
- Writing answers in the wrong register for the prompt.
- Ignoring word limits in the writing section.