It seems unlikely that when Taylor Swift sang Shake It Off she was referring to end-of-year exams.

But a class of US high school students hopes that this is exactly what Swift will help them to do.

A history teacher at Skyview High School, in the Montana town of Billings, has promised to let his pupils off their end-of-year exam, provided that Swift - one of the most famous pop stars in the world - gives him a ring.

Ike Stoner (yes, that really is his name and, no, there’s probably not joke to be made that he hasn’t already heard) persuaded his world history teacher, Colter Pierce, to agree to the deal. Mr Pierce wrote the promise on his classroom whiteboard: “If Taylor Swift calls me, my students don’t have to take their finals” and then signed it.

Ike and Mr Pierce posed for a photograph, shaking hands in front of the pledge. Ike subsequently posted the picture on to Twitter, adding: “Make sure T Swift sees this!!”

Mr Pierce has admitted to talking about Swift - whose song I Knew You Were Trouble may well be a regular listen for him at the moment -  throughout the semester.

But given that Ike’s photo has been tweeted and shared on Twitter and Facebook more than 285,000 times already, Mr Pierce has been forced to reconsider his promise. He has now said that his class will still have to sit an end-of-term exam, but that it will be much easier than planned.

All the same, his pupils should probably start revising, just in case Swift does not, in fact, make that phone call. Otherwise they may end up staring at an exam paper, in exactly the predicament that Swift has famously sung about: “I’ve got a blank space, baby.”