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TOPIK II Reading: How to Solve Sentence-Ordering Questions
Level
B1
Type
Guide
Theme
Reading strategy
작성자
Y
작성시각
You hit question 13. Four sentences, labeled 가, 나, 다, 라, sitting in a box with no numbers to tell you what comes first. Four answer choices below, each one a different order. You read them twice, they all sound "fine," and the clock keeps moving.
This is the sentence-ordering question, and it shows up at 13–15 in the TOPIK II reading section. Each one is worth 2 points. On the paper test (PBT) you fill in a bubble for your chosen order. On the computer test (IBT), the opening sentence is already shown for you, and you drag the remaining three sentences into position below it, same skill, different click.
Why "read them all and guess" doesn't work
The four sentences are never in a random jumble. They're one paragraph, cut apart. Somewhere in there is a first sentence, a plain statement with nothing pointing backward, and the other three each depend on something that came before them. Your job isn't to understand the whole story first. It's to find which sentence can't come first, before you even worry about full meaning.
Step 1: cross out the sentences that can't open
A sentence can't be first if it leans on something the reader hasn't seen yet. That shows up as one of these:
Korean | Pronunciation | Meaning |
그래서 | geu-rae-seo | so / therefore |
하지만 | ha-ji-man | but |
그런데 | geu-reon-de | but / by the way |
그 때문에 | geu ttaemune | because of that |
이런 | i-reon | this kind of |
또한 | tto-han | also |
If a sentence starts with any of these, or with 그 / 이 attached to a noun (그 사람, 이 문제), it needs an antecedent, something it's pointing back to. That rules it out as an opener. In a set of four sentences, two of them start this way. Cross them out first. You're now down to two candidates for the first sentence, which also means you're down to two of the four answer choices, since each answer choice is built around one specific opener.
Step 2: pick the real opener between the two survivors
Of your two remaining candidates, one usually introduces a situation or a topic in general terms. The other one, even without an obvious connector, is really a supporting detail. It only makes sense once you already know what's being talked about. Read each one and ask: could a stranger understand this sentence with zero context? The one that answers "yes" is your opener.
Here's a practice set that works the same way a real question does:
Label | Sentence |
가 | 그래서 지하철 대신 택시를 타기로 했다. |
나 | 어제 아침에 늦잠을 자서 회사에 늦을 것 같았다. |
다 | 하지만 도로가 막혀서 오히려 지하철보다 늦게 도착했다. |
라 | 지하철역까지 걸어가기에는 시간이 부족했다. |
가 opens with 그래서, 다 opens with 하지만, so both get eliminated as openers right away. Of 나 and 라, only 나 stands on its own: it sets up the whole situation (overslept, might be late). 라 only makes sense once you already know the person is trying to get to work fast, so it has to follow 나, not open the paragraph. The order is 나 → 라 → 가 → 다: overslept, no time to walk to the subway, so took a taxi instead, but the taxi hit traffic and arrived even later than the subway would have. Read it straight through — if there's no gap where you have to guess what happened in between, you've got it.
Step 3: when two orders still look equally possible
Sometimes eliminating openers only gets you to two live answer choices, and both read smoothly on a first pass. At that point, check what each middle sentence is doing: a reason has to sit before its result, and a general statement has to sit before the specific example that follows it. Say both full candidate orders out loud, in your head, one after the other. The version with a logical gap, where a pronoun or a result shows up before the thing it refers to, is the wrong one.
What actually changes on the IBT screen
The reading skill is identical between paper and computer tests. The only difference is how you answer: instead of marking a bubble next to a pre-written order, the IBT screen has you drag each remaining sentence into position after the given opening line, then move on once all three slots are filled. If you've practiced this question type on paper, nothing about the logic changes — you're just moving boxes instead of filling a circle.
Next time you land on 13–15, don't start by reading for the story. Start by crossing out the two sentences that can't open, and the question gets smaller before you've even finished your first read.