140 High Schoolers Got Out of a Statewide History Exam After Schools Taught Them About the Wrong Caesar

Nearly 150 high school students in Queensland, Australia, were excused from a major statewide exam after teachers mistakenly prepared them on the wrong Caesar.

Teachers in at least eight schools had taught Year 12 students about Augustus Caesar, the heir to Julius Caesar, ahead of the October 29 exam, according to the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC). The confusion arose because, for the past four years, the exam had focused on Augustus — but this year’s test switched to Julius Caesar. Although schools were notified of the syllabus change in 2023 and the information was publicly available online, many teachers missed the update.

The error was discovered only two days before the exam. Brisbane State High School was the first to realize the mistake, per ABC. The test was supposed to account for 25% of each student’s overall course grade.

Initially, the Ministry of Education planned to scale the affected students’ grades to account for the error. However, officials later decided to exempt all 140 impacted students from the exam entirely.

“I’m very unhappy about the situation,” said Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek, in a statement cited by the Associated Press. He described the ordeal as “extremely traumatic” for students who had been intensely studying for the test before learning they would no longer need to sit for it.

Langbroek also announced an investigation to prevent such errors in the future, telling The Guardian that he directed the director general of the Department of Education to urgently review how the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) communicates syllabus changes to schools.