The strategy comes from two facts: there's no minimum pass mark per section, and every listening and reading question is worth an even 2 points. Giving up on the hard questions becomes the rational choice.
Reading Q39 onward, the second half of listening, and polish on writing Q54.
Reading Q42–50 needs Level 6 vocabulary and is the toughest section, so the return is low for a Level 3 goal. It's better to build 'guessing' into your time-budget plan from the start.
Instead, lock down Listening Q1–20, Reading Q1–24, and Writing Q51·52 for certain. These three are the backbone of a minimum pass.
By return on effort, the order is Writing Q51·52 → the early sections of listening and reading → Writing Q53.
Q51 and 52 are worth 20 points for two sentences. Since you only need to learn set expressions, they give the highest output per unit of effort in the entire exam.
The early sections of listening and reading are low difficulty, so it's easy to raise your accuracy there, and each question is worth the same 2 points as the harder ones later.
If your goal is Level 3 or higher, you need to take TOPIK II. TOPIK I only goes up to Level 2.
The score burden is actually lighter for TOPIK II Level 3. Level 2 requires 70% of the full score (140/200), meaning you need to know the entire beginner range, while Level 3 only requires 40% (120/300).
That said, TOPIK II has 4 writing questions and higher-difficulty passages. Whether you can reliably solve the early sections of listening and reading is the deciding factor.
The answer comes right after the signal word. Don't try to understand the whole discourse — wait for that one sentence.
For main-idea questions (Q17–20), the signal words are '그래서 (so) / 제 생각에는 (in my opinion) / ~하는 게 좋다고 봐요 (I think it'd be good to...) / ~해야 한다고 생각해요 (I think... should...)'.
For 'what happens next' questions (Q9–12), the answer is pointed to by '그럼 ~할게요 (Then I'll...) / ~해 주시겠어요? (Could you...?) / ~부터 하죠 (Let's start with...)' at the end of the dialogue. Focus on the last utterance.