What the large juku publish: entry tests, class days and monthly fees

A juku (学習塾, gakushūjuku) that prepares children for private junior high publishes its own entry test, weekly timetable and fee list. Three of those pages, read on 9 October 2026, are SAPIX elementary (サピックス小学部), Yotsuya Otsuka (四谷大塚, Yotsuya Ōtsuka) and Waseda Academy's grade-4 course (早稲田アカデミー). Each one describes a different bill. A monthly tuition line is the part they print in a table. Seasonal courses, some mock exams and some books sit outside it.

What SAPIX publishes

SAPIX says it is a juku for the junior-high exam, and that children aiming at many different schools already attend. The entry rule on the page is:

入室テストに合格すれば、どなたでもご入室いただけます。

The entrance test (入室テスト, nyūshitsu tesuto) runs about once a month. The fee is ¥3,300 including tax. There is no set syllabus. Results take about a week. If the score meets that sitting's standard, the child may enter. SAPIX says the standard is the same at every building, and that there is no cap on how many children pass. Classes usually start early the following month. The standard is not a published point score: the page says it changes by test and by grade.

For grades 1 to 3 the regular class is once a week. From grade 4 it is twice a week. A class is about 15 to 20 children, grouped by the test score. Placement tests run about every two months in grades 1 to 3 and about every month in grades 4 to 6. You cannot sit in on a regular lesson. In January to March, July, and October to December, the grade 1 to 4 entrance test is followed by a trial lesson. From November that trial uses the next grade's material. Information sessions run every month and do not need a booking.

At enrolment SAPIX takes an entry fee of ¥33,000 including tax, plus two months of tuition. A seasonal course taken on its own is charged as the course fee only. Monthly tuition includes the in-class tests (組分けテスト, マンスリーテスト, 復習テスト), the texts and printouts handed out in class, and heating and cooling. It does not include spring and summer seasonal courses, atlases and problem books, or the open mock exams that start in the latter half of grade 3.

The 2026 monthly tuition, tax included, is:

Grade	Monthly tuition
1	¥22,000
2	¥23,100
3	¥25,300
4	¥45,650
5	¥57,750
6	¥66,000

At Kansai buildings the bill changes with the options. If the child does not take social studies in grades 4 to 6, the monthly amounts are ¥41,800, ¥51,700 and ¥60,500. Choosing the grade-5 maths alpha option there adds ¥11,000. Payment is normally a bank debit. The cooling-off window is 8 days from the contract start, and it applies to children who completed enrolment. A seasonal-course booking on its own is outside that window.

SAPIX teaches by review. The page says there is no need to preview the next lesson. The teacher tells the family what to repeat at home from the notes and the sheets given out that day. Materials are handed over in the lesson, so the child sees them there first.

What Yotsuya Otsuka publishes

Yotsuya's fee page lists a joining fee of ¥22,000 including tax. It is ¥9,900 if the child joins the children's English juku only. It is waived when siblings join together, and when a child rejoins.

Monthly fees below are tax included. Seasonal courses are extra. For the regular course (本科, honka):

Grade	4 subjects	2 subjects
4	¥41,800	¥38,500
5	¥52,250	¥45,100
6, through August	¥67,650	¥58,300
6, from September	¥90,750	¥75,350

A weekly-test course in four subjects is ¥31,350 in grade 4, ¥33,000 in grade 5, and ¥36,300 in grade 6. From September of grade 6, adding the school-specific course on that weekly-test track adds ¥31,900.

Two mock-exam fees are added to the monthly debit in the month of the test: the preferred-school test (志望校判定テスト) at ¥5,280 (grade 4 in January; grade 5 in September and January), and the combined judgment test (合不合判定テスト) at ¥5,830 (grade 6 in April, July, September, October, November and December). Compulsory materials for grades 4 to 6 are published as about ¥20,000 to ¥40,000 per half year, and the page says the amount depends on the grade and the course. Spring, summer and winter course fees are announced separately.

What Waseda Academy publishes for grade 4

Waseda's grade-4 S course (Sコース) is for children planning the junior-high exam. The page says the grade-4 curriculum actually starts in February of grade 3. Classes are two weekdays, either Tuesday and Thursday or Wednesday and Friday, depending on the building: 17:00–18:40 and 18:50–19:40. Japanese and maths are 100 minutes once a week each. Science and social studies are 50 minutes once a week each. A curriculum test runs every other Saturday, 13:30–16:00.

The published price is ¥33,300 a month for four subjects, tax included, plus an annual-fee charge of ¥2,900 a month, plus materials and the curriculum-test fee. The page tells you to ask the building for the detail. Waseda's event list marks its own entrance test as free. That test is a different product from SAPIX's paid monthly test.

What to do now

• Ask each juku for the written fee schedule for the year you would actually attend, including seasonal courses and mocks. The monthly tables above are the lines they publish, and they are not a full year.
• If you are looking at SAPIX, book the monthly entrance test (¥3,300) and keep the eight-day cooling-off date if you enrol.
• If you are looking at Yotsuya, ask which track you are being quoted: four subjects, two subjects, or the weekly-test course. The September grade-6 step is on the page.
• If you are looking at Waseda grade 4, confirm the weekday pair at your building, and ask what the materials and curriculum-test fees are on top of ¥33,300 plus ¥2,900.
• A fee, a class place, or a test score on these pages is not an offer from a school.