Studying wrong ancient Roman ruler gets Australian high school seniors out of exam

Queensland state Minister for Education, John-Paul Langbroek speaks to media during a press conference in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 22, 2025. (Steven Markham/AAP Image via AP)

MELBOURNE, Australia — Teachers at nine high schools in northeastern Australia discovered days before an ancient history exam that they had mistakenly taught their students about the wrong Roman ruler — Augustus Caesar instead of his predecessor, Julius Caesar.

The students in Queensland ended up being exempt from the statewide exam on Wednesday while Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said he would investigate the mix-up, describing the experience for the students as “extremely traumatic.”

Since the error in the curriculum was discovered on Monday, schools applied — and were granted — an exemption from the exam for their students, even as panicked high schoolers were cramming about Julius Caesar’s exploits as a Roman general and statesman.

“I’m very unhappy about the situation,” Langbroek told reporters in announcing that the 140 seniors affected by the mix-up would not have to sit the exam.

Langbroek said he would ensure those students were “not disadvantaged in any way.”

Still, the incident brought a wave of criticisms.

Parents complained that the panic created around the ancient history exam had distracted their children from preparing for other exams, including an earlier exam on Wednesday.

The exam amounts to 25% of the students’ marks for the year. The students who were exempted from the test on Wednesday would be given credit based on their assessment for the remaining 75% of their marks.

The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority said it had told the state’s 180 high schools two years ago that the ancient history exam topic would change to Julius Caesar in 2025. The topic had been Augustus Caesar for the previous four years.