The cost of registering for the TOEFL Test in Japan will be reduced to $195, starting April 1. That’s a $50 reduction. This appears to be a permanent change.
Obviously, this adjustment will be welcomed by test takers. A prominent pain point for those seeking to take the TOEFL (all around the world) is that the test fee is denominated in USD (with two exceptions: India and China). This can be frustrating, as it is natural for most currencies to decline against the USD over time.
In recent years, this issue has pushed many test takers in the direction of tests with fees that are more likely to be fixed in local currencies. Such tests include the IELTS and PTE.
In Japan, for instance, the cost of taking the IELTS has been fixed at 27,500 yen since last year. That’s about $184. Needless to say, the $245 TOEFL has been a tough sell for quite a long time.
Ten years ago, about 80% of the students coming to me for help with the TOEFL were Japanese. They were mostly older students hoping to earn an MBA or LLM from a top school in the USA or UK. Over the past decade, that key demographic has shifted slowly but surely to the IELTS. Cost is not the only reason for this, but it plays a part.
This is problematic for my friends over at Team TOEFL. While the undergraduate cohort has overwhelmingly embraced the DET and PTE (and will probably never be recaptured) the graduate cohort is an area where legacy tests remain competitive. There is still much market share to lose.