EPS-TOPIK (EPS한국어능력시험, the Employment Permit System Korean language test) is not a language certificate you keep. It is the exam that builds the foreign jobseeker roster (구직자명부): a scored list of applicants that Korean employers hire from through Korea's Employment Permit System (고용허가제). Pass the exam, clear a mandatory health screening, and your name enters the roster. Your score decides whether you make the cut: passers are set by descending score, up to the planned intake for your country and sector.
HRD Korea describes the exam's purpose as supplying an objective selection criterion when that roster is compiled, not as a general certificate of Korean ability. Once the 2-year validity lapses, the pass no longer counts.
This guide covers what the exam tests, how the 100-point scoring works, and what a passing score actually produces. For the wider Employment Permit System and the E-9 visa, see the EPS guide.
Who sits EPS-TOPIK
EPS-TOPIK is required for first-time applicants to the Employment Permit System from one of Korea's 17 partner sending countries. HRD Korea (한국산업인력공단) organizes applicants into two separate tracks.
The general applicant track (일반외국인) covers people applying through EPS for the first time. To be eligible, you must meet all of the following conditions:
- Age 18 to 39, or 18 to 38 for applicants from the Philippines
- No criminal record resulting in imprisonment or a heavier penalty
- No history of forced departure from or deportation from Korea
- No restriction (결격사유) on leaving your own country
- A combined E-9 and E-10 stay in Korea of less than 5 years
HRD Korea announces each round, including the application locations, the application period, and the test date, through major daily newspapers in the country where the exam is held. Results are posted on the EPS website and on sending-agency noticeboards. For the practical steps, see EPS-TOPIK Registration.
Former EPS workers who returned home voluntarily within their permitted stay and want to be re-employed use a separate exam, the Special EPS-TOPIK (특별한국어능력시험). That exam is scored out of 200 points rather than 100 and has its own eligibility rules. The EPS guide covers both tracks. This guide covers the general exam only.
The exam format: CBT is the current standard
EPS-TOPIK is currently delivered as a computer-based test (CBT, 컴퓨터 기반 시험) or a tablet-based test (UBT, 태블릿 기반 시험). HRD Korea states that all exam rounds now run this way. The same page dates the shift to an undisclosed question bank from 2013 and describes that shift as gradual. Every exam round sampled on the live HRD Korea schedule page for 2026 is labeled CBT. If you have read older forum posts or agency materials that describe a paper-based test (PBT, 지필시험), those posts describe a format the exam no longer uses.
Each scheduled round is posted with its format on the schedule page at epstopik.hrdkorea.or.kr. Check the format listed against your country's next round.
The exam itself runs 50 minutes and covers two sections:
| Section | Questions | Points | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading (읽기) | 20 | 50 | 25 minutes |
| Listening (듣기) | 20 | 50 | 25 minutes |
| Total | 40 | 100 | 50 minutes |
All questions are multiple choice with four options. HRD Korea lists the exam's content as the basic communication needed for daily life in Korea, the Korean needed on industrial worksites, and an understanding of Korean company culture. The reading section covers vocabulary and usage, practical documents and information, and comprehension. The listening section covers sounds, visual materials, and conversations or stories.
How scoring works: norm-referenced, not a fixed pass score
EPS-TOPIK uses norm-referenced grading (상대평가). There is no single fixed score that automatically places everyone who reaches it onto the roster.
Instead, scoring works in two stages. First, a candidate must clear the sector floor: a minimum score that makes them eligible for ranking. Second, passers are set by descending score among all eligible candidates, up to the planned intake.
The sector floors, as stated on HRD Korea's exam description page, are:
| Sector | Minimum score to be eligible for ranking |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 60 out of 100 |
| All sectors other than manufacturing | 45 out of 100 |
| Fishing special category | 30 out of 100 (pass-fail only) |
Clearing the floor is necessary but not sufficient. If 5,000 candidates from one country all score above the manufacturing floor and the planned intake for that country in manufacturing is 3,000, the 2,000 candidates with the lowest eligible scores will not be selected in that round. A higher score improves your position in the queue.
What a pass actually gets you
Passing EPS-TOPIK does not mean you have a job offer or a visa. It means you meet the language requirement to be considered for roster placement.
Roster entry has two gates, not one. You must pass EPS-TOPIK. You must also clear a mandatory health screening. Once both are passed, a job application is collected from you and a jobseeker roster entry is compiled and sent to HRD Korea. HRD Korea converts it into Korean, checks basic eligibility, certifies it, and manages the roster. Korea's employment centers then refer candidates from the roster to employers.
Once on the roster, your pass is valid for 2 years from the date results are announced, as stated on eps.go.kr (read 2026-08-05). HRD Korea's own EPS-TOPIK pages do not restate this period, so confirm it with your sending agency before planning around it. If no employer selects you within that window, you must re-sit the exam.
For a full explanation of what happens between passing the exam and receiving a job offer, including how long the wait typically runs and what the E-9 visa process looks like, see what happens after passing EPS-TOPIK.
A scoring discrepancy you may see online
If you land on eps.go.kr's general applicant process page and see a scoring description that does not match the 100-point scale described above, you are looking at a page that has not been updated to reflect the current exam.
As of August 2026, two Korean government portals disagree with each other on the general exam's scoring structure. HRD Korea's own exam description page at epstopik.hrdkorea.or.kr is the authoritative current source. The current general exam is scored out of 100 points with the sector floors stated above.
This inconsistency is real and documented. Older guides, forum posts, and even some agency materials repeat the outdated figure. When you see a scoring description that differs from what appears on epstopik.hrdkorea.or.kr, the epstopik.hrdkorea.or.kr version is correct.
Free official study materials
HRD Korea provides two sets of free official study materials at epstopik.hrdkorea.or.kr.
The Standard Textbook (한국어표준교재) is organized around vocabulary, grammar, dialogues, pronunciation, useful expressions, and Korean culture and information, and the library includes downloadable listening audio files.
A separate supplementary self-study e-book library (자가학습용 보조교재) is also available. As of August 2026, the e-book library lists versions in at least 9 sending-country languages: English, Sinhala (Sri Lanka), Myanmar, Thai, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Lao, Bangladeshi, and Cambodian.
Both are free to download. Get them before you register for the exam.
What to do next: the four spoke guides
This guide covers what EPS-TOPIK is. Each of the following guides goes into one specific stage of the process in full detail.
Registration: How to sign up for the exam through your sending agency, what the registration window looks like, and what documents you need. See EPS-TOPIK Registration.
Exam day: What to bring to the test center, what the CBT interface looks like, and what steps follow after you finish the exam. See EPS-TOPIK Exam Day.
EPS-TOPIK vs TOPIK: These two exams share part of a name and serve entirely different purposes. If you are unsure whether you need EPS-TOPIK or the general TOPIK exam, or whether a TOPIK certificate replaces EPS-TOPIK for any purpose, see EPS-TOPIK vs TOPIK.
After passing: What the roster means in practice, how employers search it, how long the wait typically runs, and what the E-9 visa process looks like once you receive a job offer. See After Passing EPS-TOPIK.
For the wider Employment Permit System, your rights once you arrive in Korea, and what to do about unpaid wages or unsafe conditions, see the EPS guide and the E-9 Worker Rights guide. The E-9 Visa guide covers your legal status and the limits on your stay once the visa is issued.
FAQ
Is EPS-TOPIK the same as the TOPIK exam?
No. EPS-TOPIK (EPS한국어능력시험) and the general TOPIK exam (한국어능력시험) are two separate tests with different purposes. HRD Korea describes EPS-TOPIK's purpose as supplying an objective selection criterion when the foreign jobseeker roster is compiled, so an EPS-TOPIK pass exists to place you on that roster rather than to certify Korean ability in general. For a detailed comparison, see the EPS-TOPIK vs TOPIK guide.
Who is required to take EPS-TOPIK?
First-time applicants to Korea's Employment Permit System from one of the 17 sending countries. The general track requires age 18 to 39, or 18 to 38 for applicants from the Philippines, no criminal record resulting in imprisonment or heavier, no history of forced departure from or deportation from Korea, no restriction on leaving your own country, and a combined E-9 and E-10 stay in Korea of less than 5 years.
What is the EPS-TOPIK exam format?
40 multiple-choice questions over 50 minutes: 20 reading questions worth 50 points in 25 minutes, and 20 listening questions worth 50 points in 25 minutes. The total score is 100 points. The exam is delivered as a computer-based test (CBT) or tablet-based test (UBT), not on paper.
What is the pass score for EPS-TOPIK?
There is no single fixed pass score. The exam is norm-referenced: you must clear a sector floor to be eligible, then passers are set by descending score up to the planned intake. The floors are 60 out of 100 for manufacturing, 45 for all other sectors, and 30 pass-fail for the fishing special category. Clearing the floor does not guarantee selection; it means you qualify to be ranked.
How long is an EPS-TOPIK result valid?
A pass is valid for 2 years from the date results are announced, as stated on eps.go.kr. If no employer selects you from the roster within that window, you must re-sit the exam. HRD Korea's own EPS-TOPIK pages do not restate this period, so confirm it with your sending agency before planning around it.
What happens after I pass EPS-TOPIK?
You are not yet on the roster. You must also clear a mandatory health screening. Once both gates are passed, a job application is collected from you and a jobseeker roster entry is compiled and sent to HRD Korea, which converts it into Korean, checks basic eligibility, certifies it, and manages the roster. Korea's employment centers then refer candidates from the roster to employers. For the full process from pass to job offer, see the after-passing guide.
Is EPS-TOPIK still a paper test?
No. HRD Korea states that all EPS-TOPIK rounds now run as computer-based tests (CBT) or tablet-based tests (UBT). Every 2026 round sampled on the HRD Korea schedule page is labeled CBT. If you read older forum posts mentioning paper-based testing, those describe a format the exam no longer uses.
I saw a different scoring scale for EPS-TOPIK online. Which source is correct?
Use epstopik.hrdkorea.or.kr for the current scoring structure. As of August 2026, a scoring description on eps.go.kr's general applicant process page reflects an older version of the exam scale. HRD Korea's own exam description page at epstopik.hrdkorea.or.kr is the authoritative source: the current general exam is scored out of 100 points, with sector floors of 60 (manufacturing), 45 (all other sectors), and 30 pass-fail (fishing special category).