New regulations for watches. Cambridge Assessment regulations state that from January 2022 smart watches will be banned in exams rooms and treated as electronic items. It is no longer acceptable for candidates to remove and leave them on their desk. Candidates should be advised to remove and leave them at home or they should be collected with mobile phones. The exam day supervisor will inform candidates of this regulation and instruct them where to place their watches at the start of the exam.
A number of British universities have banned timepieces, fearing new smartwatches could enable students to access forbidden materials. Students at City University in London are banned from wearing any kind of wristwatch in exams, those at Southampton must place all watches in a clear plastic bag on the desk, while at Goldsmiths watches have to be stored under desks.
At Queen Mary, University of London, students must take off electronic watches, while at Oxford and Cambridge, students’ watches are “subject to examination by invigilators”.
