Nine schools and almost 150 students caught up in Queensland’s ancient history exam disaster

About 140 students from at least nine schools have been left scrambling after they were taught the wrong content for a major exam.

The alarm was raised on Monday at Brisbane State High School after it was confirmed pupils studying ancient history were taught about Augustus, the first Roman emperor, when they should have been learning about military and political leader Julius Caesar.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Queensland students taught wrong history topic for exams.

It left them with barely any time to prepare for Wednesday afternoon’s external exam.

It has now been revealed eight more schools had been teaching the wrong topic, with about 140 students affected overall.

The other schools identified were Flagstone Community College, Meridan State College, Redcliffe State High School, Yeronga State High School, St Teresa’s Catholic College, West Moreton Anglican College, James Nash State High School, and Kuranda District State College.

“For all of us, as parents, or students who have been through situations like this, it would be extremely traumatic,” Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said.

He said it was obvious there had been a communication breakdown and promised a major probe into how it happened.

Augustus has been the topic of past ancient history exams, but the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) said schools were told of this year’s subject more than a year ago.

“We’re going to be having an investigation into how this has occurred and to make sure that the resources that are given and the planning that’s done at the QCAA is appropriately guided for the future to make sure we don’t see a repeat of these situations.”

Wednesday’s exam was set to be worth 25 per cent of their final result but the minister said the assessments already done “will be scaled up” to make sure students are “not disadvantaged in any way”.

Langbroek reassured parents “it has not happened in any other subject because there was no change of major assessment in any other subject”.

“I’ve spoken to the acting chair of the QCAA today and have asked them to make sure that we’re updated about whether there are any other schools that are affected,” Langbroek said.

“To the best of my knowledge and the best of the QCAA’s knowledge there are no more than these nine.”