By Rebecca Borg
Publication Date: 2026-06-09 03:40:00
Dozens of Year 12 students at a prominent Catholic boys’ school in Melbourne lost crucial grades on a key English exam because they used artificial intelligence to cheat.
At least 50 students at Mazenod College, an independent school in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, had grades withdrawn from their oral presentations after teachers caught them using AI to write their speech, according to a source privy to the matter.
The assignment, worth 20 points of their total English Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) Unit 4 points, requires students to prepare and present a three to five minute oral presentation expressing their point of view on a topic that is close to their hearts.
This grade then forms part of a student’s English studies grade, which is used to determine their overall Grade 12 grade at the end of the year, known as the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR).
The principal of Mazenod College, Dr. Paul Shannon, said students were surprised at an annual review…
