All fail Caesar: Brisbane high school teaches wrong topic for final year 12 history exam | Queensland

An entire class of high school students in Queensland applied for special assessment due to “illness and misfortune” just days before their Year 12 ancient history external examination.

But they were neither ambushed by vengeful gods nor enchanted by sirens; These young scholars studied the wrong Caesar.

A Department for Education spokesman said the Brisbane state secondary school had “identified that incorrect content was being taught for the Grade 12 ancient history external examination this term” on Monday, two days before students were due to sit the exam.

“Due to an error, students were taught the Augustus unit instead of Julius Caesar, the subject of the 2025 external exam,” the spokesman said.

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The first Roman emperor, Augustus, was the adopted son and heir of Julius Caesar and inherited the famous surname after Julius’ assassination in March 44 BC.

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority CEO Claude Jones issued a statement on Tuesday saying schools were “notified more than 12 months in advance of the Ancient History external exam issue”.

But Jones said the exam board was now “working closely with school staff to ensure no pupil is disadvantaged”.

“The school is sending out an illness and misfortune application covering the entire group so that special consideration can be made once student results are finalized,” Jones said.

“Our assessors will apply additional quality assurance processes when marking these exam responses.”

A spokesperson for the department said this would “ensure that circumstances are taken into account when student results are finalised”, both noting that students had already completed 75% of their assessments on the subject.

The spokesman said the school had “designed a plan for the two affected classes” and this included “a full day of support for students to study practice exam questions and examples on Tuesday and Wednesday morning”.

However, external exams are also planned for other courses during this period.

“The department and school deeply regret this error and are supporting students and families during this time,” a department spokesperson said.

The Brisbane state high school has been contacted for comment.