Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development

It still costs $29 to send TOEFL scores. It costs $29 to send a TOEFL score to a single university. That's a lot of money. Test takers can send scores to 4 universities for free, but only if they are selected before the test is taken (so if you prefer to know the score before sending it, you lose the free option). In contrast, Pearson sends PTE scores to an unlimited number of universities for free. Same for Duolingo. Even IELTS sends scores for free when universities are set up to receive them electronically. I've often said that ETS will need to eliminate the score sending fee to remain competitive in the face of stiff competition from Duolingo and others. But it isn't quite as simple as that. Indeed, while I've been promoting the elimination of the fee, smarter people than I have made the choice to raise it - to $25 in November 2023 and to $29 in February 2025. What gives? After I finished taking the test in Seoul this month I got to talking with a fellow test taker in the parking lot. He said: "this test is very expensive. $228... and I have to pay $29 to send each score!" I said: "didn't you use your free score reports?" He said: "Yeah, but it's normal for people in Korea to send scores to ten universities!" I called Mr. H, who teaches TOEFL prep on the other side of the mountain I live below. He said that his students normally send scores to between 5 and 10 universities. Then I called Mr. M, who teaches in Chengdu, out by the big panda farm. He said that his students normally send scores to 6 to 8 universities. I didn't talk to anyone in Japan, but perhaps you get the point. These are markets where TOEFL is still dominant, and people are willing to pay these fees. Despite everything, these customers haven't jumped ship to Duolingo or Pearson. For now, anyway. Back in 2022 test takers with Chinese, Korean and Japanese as their first languages made up a staggering 49.6% of all TOEFL test takers (according to data in the recent concordance report). Considering what has befallen the industry since then (ie, the bottom falling out of the market in India), I'm certain that such folks make up an even larger percentage of the TOEFL customer base in 2026. Accordingly, taking my bad advice to axe the score sending fee would immediately wipe out a whole lot of supplementary revenue in the TOEFL heartland. And since the test is already dominant in these markets, such a move wouldn't create any new registrations in these countries. The cut would only leave ETS with a faint hope that in the long run the test becomes more competitive with Duolingo (and Pearson and everyone else) in a motley assortment of smaller markets. The smarter move, perhaps, is to keep cranking up the fee... as has been done with the GRE, where it now costs $40 to send a score to a single university (up from $27 in 2023, if my data is correct). I guess this is a variation on the old "Innovator's Dilemma." As a wise man once said, Testing Ain't Easy.

Taco Bell is apparently teaming up with duolingo...on A sauce. There are mascots that brands try to embed into your everyday lives - and then there's the Duolingo owl. Arguably the pushiest of them all, anyone who's ever downloaded Duolingo, taken four language lessons, and then promptly lost their streak while they got on with something else in their life will be well-acquainted with this little green bird. And not necessarily in a good way. Shaming, passive-aggression, emotional manipulation: These are just a few of the tactics customers feel the company uses to get you back into its app, and they're all delivered via a cartoon feathered owl. Strange world Sporked live in, isn't it? It's about to get a bit stranger. The Duolingo owl is now, apparently, finding yet another way to remind you to brush up on your French skills: Via your Taco Bell sauce packets. A collab may be coming, and it might be the strangest one Sporked has heard all year. Taco Bell x Duolingo. A couple of weeks ago, rumblings started appearing online that Taco Bell might be teaming up with Duolingo on a new sauce. Before Sporked get into the why of it all, let's assess the evidence. The first concrete bit of information Sporked could find was on Reddit, where someone who seemed to be an employee posted a picture of a company document displaying key upcoming events. One of them, dated October 6, stated, "Duolingo Sauce Packet Start Sell." Naturally, this prompted a lot of chatter, but things then went a bit quiet for a few weeks, until Instagram accounts @markie_devo and @alwayslivingmas (the former a food influencer, the latter a Taco Bell fan community page) collaborated on a post about the sauce, with more information. Apparently, Taco Bell and Duolingo will be releasing a limited-edition Duo Habanero Sauce. They stated that the sauce will be available with the purchase of either version of Doritos Locos Tacos or a Doritos Cheesy Gordita Crunch. October 6, incidentally, is National Taco Day, and a comment on the post by an apparent Taco Bell employee confirmed the sauce and said that it would be a one-day-only affair. So...essentially, it's habanero sauce in a branded packet. Nothing wild, nothing too out-there - but a bizarre collaboration. But...Why? Your guess is as good as mine. It's hardly unusual for Taco Bell to make a left-field choice to try and get people talking, as it has done here. Duolingo, meanwhile, loves working with brands you wouldn't expect (Scrub Daddy, "Resident Evil", Chess.com, "Squid Game" - take your pick). If you like super-niche collaborations, this one might be for you. If not, I would not be in the least bit surprised.