How to Learn TOPIK II Vocabulary: 548 Korean Flashcards Built on Noun + 하다 Pairs

TOPIK II (levels 3 to 6) stops testing survival Korean and starts testing whether you can follow a newspaper editorial, a lecture or a workplace memo. The vocabulary that separates a 3급 from a 5급 is abstract, Sino-Korean and heavily verbal: 분석하다, 추정하다, 구성되다, 차별화하다. The TOPIK II Vocabulary deck on Flip It (deck code JP8598, 548 cards) collects exactly that layer, English on the front, Hangul plus romanization on the back.

Sample cards

The pattern hiding in the deck

Look at the first cards in order: to accomplish → 달성하다, then to expect → 기대하다 and expectation → 기대, to predict → 예측하다 and prediction → 예측, to analyze → 분석하다 and analysis → 분석. The deck is built in noun/verb pairs. Of 548 cards, 287 fronts begin with "to" and 235 backs end in 하다, so a large share of the vocabulary is one Sino-Korean noun plus the verbaliser 하다.

This is the single most useful fact for a TOPIK II learner: learn the noun, and the verb is free. 조사 is investigation; 조사하다 is to investigate. 제조 is manufacture; 제조하다 is to manufacture. The deck also shows the passive variant with 되다 (to consist of → 구성되다, to relate → 관련되다), which is the form you will actually meet in reading passages.

Semantic fields covered

Cards are grouped by meaning, which mirrors how TOPIK II reading texts are organised:

• Research and reasoning: 가정, 추정, 분석, 검사, 조사, 연구, 실험, 관찰, 발견, 추론 (inference), 단언 (assertion)
• Production and building: 창조, 생산, 제조, 건설, 짓다/건물, 설립하다, 조직하다, 운영하다
• Power and rules: 통치하다, 제한하다, 금지하다, 허용, 권한, 영향/충격
• Communication: 선언, 발표, 방송, 표현하다, 명시하다, 설명하다, 묘사하다, 의사소통
• Change and improvement: 변경하다, 수정하다, 개선하다, 진화하다, 촉진하다, 전진하다, 용이하게 하다
• Structure and classification: 구성, 구조, 순서, 범주, 모양, 분할하다, 구별하다, 차별화하다, 연결하다, 결합, 융합, 합성
• Physical and quantitative: 증발, 응축, 압축, 줄이다, 최소화하다, 확대하다, 강화하다, 증가하다, 악화하다, 연장하다
• Society and conflict: 회의, 논의, 논쟁, 반대, 항의, 비판, 기소, 방어, 보호, 충돌, 합병
• Feeling and judgement: 인내, 경험, 패배, 노력, 갈망, 선호, 가치, 숭배하다, 존중하다, 고려하다, 명상, 인정, 폭로, 공개

Study tips specific to this deck

Reverse the cards early. Because the front is English, the default direction trains production (English → Korean), which is what the TOPIK II writing section (쓰기, questions 51-54) demands. But the reading section needs the opposite reflex. Do one pass Korean → English before the exam so that 유도 or 암시 in a passage does not stall you.

Drill the 하다/되다 pairs together. When 개선하다 comes up, say the noun 개선 and the passive 개선되다 aloud before flipping. Three forms for the price of one card, and the 되다 form is the one graders expect in formal writing (문제가 개선되었다).

Watch the near-synonyms. The deck deliberately places neighbours side by side: 예측 vs 추정, 검사 vs 조사, 변경 vs 수정, 갈망 vs 열망. TOPIK II vocabulary questions (어휘, questions 1-4 in reading) are built on precisely these distinctions, so treat adjacent cards as a mini quiz rather than as duplicates.

How to work through 548 cards

At 25 new cards a day the deck takes about three weeks, with Flip It's spaced repetition handling the reviews. Level 3-4 candidates should stop at the first 300 cards (research, production, communication, change) and consolidate; level 5-6 candidates need the full set, especially the abstract nouns of the last third.

Log in at flip-it.app and search the library for deck code JP8598 — TOPIK II Vocabulary.