Disguised when seeing, Waqar Malik, a former teacher who became YouTubeur, said, among other things, to his thousands of subscribers whom he can predict the questions of certain exams.
With his channel “Mr Everhything English”, he embodies these new “influencers” who attract thousands of British adolescents, anxious to succeed school.
On YouTube and on Tiktok, the one who presents himself as a former deputy director of establishment, praises his forecasts for the classical English literature test for the GCSE, examination comparable to the college certificate.
“Last year, I predicted the entire subject,” he says.
He specifies that it only “informed supposition” but teachers and examiners are concerned about the impact of such videos.
“If you are a 15 or 16 -year -old teenager preparing your exams and someone on your phone tells you ‘This is what the English test will contain’ … It’s so attractive,” said Sarah Brownsword, lecturer at the University of East Anglia.
After the GCSE tests in May – whose results are expected next week – some students regretted having believed his predictions. “I will never listen to you again, brother”, wrote a surfer, others saying he is “damn” and ready to abandon their studies.
One of the examination commissions in charge of the English tests, the AQA, underlined in a report “an increasing dependence on certain online revision channels”.
These contents “are an important source of review and support for students”, she writes, but what examiners want is “your personal interpretation of the texts you have studied, not the opinion of unknown on social networks”.
Contacted by AFP, Malik, which has more than 225,000 subscribers on YouTube, did not follow up.
Online predictions
“This kind of videos is never intended to mislead,” says Tilly Taylor, a student who gives review advice to her more than 110,000 subscribers on Tiktok.
“I very clearly specify in my videos that these are predictions,” she adds, saying relying on annals and examiner reports to guide her virtual community.
On the other hand, she criticizes those who sell allegedly complete subjects.
Ishaan Bhimjiyani, 20 and over 400,000 subscribers on Tiktok, promotes a site offering a subject prediction for the English exam for 1.99 pounds (around 2.30 euros) “with a precision history of 60 to 70%”.
“If you present it as a prediction, it’s completely correct … you just can’t sell it like a guarantee,” he said.
Jen, a former teacher known under the pseudonym Primrose Kitten, who does not wish to give her last name, believes that the forecasts sold on his site allow “to know if you are really ready for the exam”.
For 4.99 pounds (5.80 euros) it offers plausible subjects for all materials, accompanied by a video explaining how to answer it to aim for the best note.
If some influencers, such as Malik or Jen, claim to have experience in teaching, others, like Bhimjiyani, started directly at school.
Sponsored videos
“At 16, I started Tiktok. I documented my journey, posting the way I revise. And then it took off, “says Bhimjiyani, educated in the private sector.
Since then, he has founded Taplab, a marketing agency which represents more than 100 young creators of educational content.
Most of their income comes from videos sponsored by recruiters, beauty or technology brands, and always reported, specifies Bhimjiyani, who claims to have touched 5,000 pounds for his first video of this type.
Originally from northeast of England, Tilly Taylor evokes her difficulties in public school: “I was never really explained how to revise”. She then turned to YouTube to find advice that she in turn transmits.
“I wanted to help someone like me,” she says.
