Wristwatches

At the SA5 exam I was sitting yesterday, I was told I am not allowed a wristwatch at my desk. This may be news to only me (I am sure I would have found it in the Student Handbook if I had read it more thoroughly...) but this still amazes me.

I understand that smartwatches should be banned for the same reason as mobile phones. However banning all types of watch seems excessive. My watch a) is clearly not smart and b) isn't one of those annoying watches that has an alarm on it, so isn't going to go off halfway through an exam.

This is actually quite frustrating because the room in question had one clock, which I was a fair distance away from and at about a 60 degree angle to. Constantly having to look at this clock was inconvenient and difficult because of the angle and distance from which I was looking. This was very frustrating considering it was for an exam in which time management down to the minute is in fact critical! Errors of measuring time are going to occur which wouldn't occur if I could use a wristwatch/a watch within a metre of me. I'm not going to claim it notably affected my performance because that's nonsense, but it felt like a needless and frustrating nuisance.

I cannot help but feel that this ban, while well-intentioned, is misguided and an overreaction. Am I alone in this sentiment? At least provide more clocks to exam rooms if this is going to continue, or let us bring in massive old school alarm clocks!

 

I was thinking the same thing. I have been unable to find any reference to it in the handbook, last updated 10th Sept 2015 I believe.

And yes, so much easier just glancing across at my wrist than lifting my head to find the clock, focus on the clock, notice that the invigilator is sat playing with their phone...

 

It does surprise me there is no reference in the handbook. Maybe this is a recent development in light of an incident this sitting?

I intend to give some feedback to the Institute on this point when the opportunity arises and I would encourage anyone who feels similarly to do the same

 

We had a giant clock projected on to the wall at the front, which made up for not having wristwatches

 

Awesome!

 

Speaking of watches, at the last exam I sat (SA3) we had 2 large clocks at the front of the hall. It turned out that they were not entirely in sync with each other.

When the invigilator called "time up", one of the clocks still indicated there was about 3 minutes to go...

The invigilator then severely criticized someone who was still writing at that point, which seemed rather comical given the point above

 

If at the start the times were 857 and 900
and at the end the times were 1157 and 1200
That's fine