I was originally working through sogang textbooks with a teacher but I recently quit taking classes because I needed to save money for Japanese language school. I plan on going through the sejong textbooks and videos, but I don’t think it’ll be enough to get to topik 6. I’m wonder what are you guys using to study korean and how are you using your textbooks to study?
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I don’t consider myself intermediate yet so I don’t think I can help you much, but out of curiosity what level of sogang did you get to?
I’m taking classes with sogang K2A at the moment, and wondering how useful the later books are. So far I’m enjoying the approach, but my teacher said the next levels are more focused on texts (reading and writing). I don’t mind that per say, but I was thinking about switching to a different method…
I think I got up to sogang 3A or 3B. My teacher used slides based on the sogang textbook so I don’t have the actual sogang textbook. I can’t say much about the writing section because I didn’t really do them or I did and I don’t remember. The reading sections were pretty fun. There was advice columns and readings based on each character’s life.
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Oh I see, thank you for the reply!
I’ll keep an eye on this thread for future reference 
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I’ll preface this by saying that I’m not a big textbook user, and I don’t like structured courses, so this may or may not work for others.
The way I do things is mostly through input. Mostly reading, but I’ll force myself to get some listening in as well, through things like audiobooks and the occasional kdrama. I also do some sessions of intensive reading, through a study group on Discord, where we shadow and translate sentences one by one, which is tiring, but very useful to deepen my understanding of vocab and grammar.
When I read is when I get the most improvement. I don’t systematically do lookups, but the ones I do do, if I have a physical book I’ll write down in the book so I can quickly look back through it afterwards. As for grammar, I will always write it down, whether it’s a physical or digital book, so I can go and search info on a new grammar point. I usually pick an abriged live from Billy Go!, if it’s available. Otherwise, I have two playlists I fall to, 고급 문법 by TOPIK STUDY and 한국어 고급문법 by 김광순. For purely the intermediate grammar, content is more easy to find. What I like to do as well is look for a written explanation of the grammar point as well, to get two different perspectives (How to study Korean has a lot of example sentences, so I usually go there if there is a lesson on the grammar point I’m learning about).
Now, the textbook that I use nowadays is Korean Grammar in Use | L0-27. I don’t use it regularly though. What I use it as is a way to patch any holes in grammar I might’ve acquired through sheer coincidence. Happened with beginner grammar when I started to read and learned more and more intermediate grammar points, and somehow there were a few beginner ones that I’d never encountered, and thus never looked up. So once I feel like I’m starting to get out of the stage I’m into, reaching the top of the beginner level, the top of the intermediate level, I go through the appropriate KGIU book relatively quickly. Just to catch those last few grammar points.
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How do you practice using the grammar? Do you just write sentences?
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I don’t really do any specific grammar drills? I’ll journal occasionally. And talk to myself in Korean, out loud or in my head. And if I want to use a certain grammar point and realize idk how to use it exactly? That’s when I’ll go back to watch/read some explanations about it.
I also took some Italki conversation classes (with a community tutor, not an actual teacher) for a few months, while I was entering the intermediate level.
For TOPIK levels 3 & 4 I used mostly:
비타민 한국어 3&4 - From what I’ve seen online, people either like this series or they don’t, but I found it good for my purposes. It’s quite comprehensive and covers vocab, grammar, reading, listening, writing, and speaking with plenty of review. It is a little awkward for self study but not impossible to use. It’s all in Korean which is a problem for some people, but I think having to parse the explanations helped me learn vocab and to read faster. I purchased them on Google play books, so the built in translation feature helped me look up words I didn’t understand faster.
These go all the way up to level 6, so you could follow them and roughly cover all the material on the test, although I think they are not enough alone.
Summary:
(+) comprehensive and complete study plans
(+) corresponds neatly to TOPIK levels
(+) has audio available online
(+) will teach you a ton of vocab if you’re willing to look it up and study it
(-) all in Korean
(-) grammar explanations are sometimes not enough to remember alone, requires supplementation
(-) not enough for TOPIK 6 alone
문화가 있는 한국어 읽기 - I actually used levels 1-6 of this and would recommend it to anyone. Lots of comprehensible texts to read that correspond to TOPIK levels with a variety of topics and full audio so practicing listening is also possible. It’s available pretty cheaply on Google play books.
Korean Grammar in Use Intermediate - A classic for a good reason. It’s very solid and covers all the intermediate grammar and then some, so you can work your way through this all the way up to TOPIK 6 (even though it’s the intermediate volume - the advanced one has uncommon grammar that doesn’t really appear on the test). If you use it alongside a more general textbook, it is a great supplement for grammar that you can use to drill certain topics with the exercises or just refresh your memory with.
There are some anki decks that exist with the example sentences from this book that can be downloaded as a study aid.
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I completed Sogang 2A to 4B with an online teacher (2 hours per week for 1.5 years). And then completed Sogang 5A and 5B through self-study.
At the same time, I also watch online lectures from www.mastertopik.com. They are affordable and really improved my listening skills since everything is thought in Korean (except the basic levels).
I did not sit for an actual TOPIK test since I’m not planning to live or study in Korea.
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