Those appearing for the Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Exam (Advanced) on May 22 will be allowed to wear simple analog wristwatches to their test centres. This change in rules was made after parents of several IIT aspirants wrote to the JEE (Advanced) office against disallowing all types of wristwatches in examination halls.

However, smart watches or programmable watches will continue to remain barred from test centres, according to the “list of instructions” to students that was modified on Sunday, The Times of India reported. While announcing that all types of watches were barred from exam halls, they had said that invigilators would announce the time after every 30 minutes.

Parents had said watches were necessary for effective time management, given the competitive nature of the JEE (Advanced) exam. Besides releasing a list of items prohibited in examination centres to prevent malpractices, IITs had also announced a dress code – they banned full-sleeved shirts and kurtas, as well as brooches, shoes and footwear with heels.