Kilkenny content creator makes the grade on TikTok

With over ten thousand followers and 1.2 million likes, a Kilkenny TikToker has established himself as one to watch for the future. Jake Glendon is 19 years old and hails from Kilmanagh, and has made his mark online by offering exam advice to Leaving Cert students.

The more videos Jake made, the more brands started to reach out to him. StudyClix contacted Jake and offered him a discount code to use for their website, which Jake in turn offered to his own followers, so that they could avail of the reduced prices. Jake completed his Leaving Cert last year, and decided to take a gap year. He began to share his own experience with the Leaving Cert in his videos.

Last September, Jake started to run grinds in biology and home economics at an hourly rate of €15; the classes were held over Zoom, of which there were 12 per week; Jake ran these grinds classes up until the week of the Leaving Cert. Jake describes the approach to this year’s Leaving Cert as “manic” for him. “I had thousands of DMs and emails,” he says.

Biology is Jake’s favourite subject to give advice on, and he plans to start studying it at college in September, while still keeping up his advice videos on TikTok. “I think there’s a good demand for it,” says Jake, “and when it helps people, there’s no need to let it go.”

The advice Jake would give to students currently doing their Leaving Cert is to move on from every exam once it’s over. “Last year, English Paper 1 didn’t go my way,” shares Jake. “I answered a question wrong, and I kind of dwelled on it. The best thing you can do is focus on the exams you have ahead of you.

"The Leaving Cert goes on for a long time for some students, so my best advice would be to move on from the exam once it’s over, because you never know how it’s going to go when it’s being corrected.”