Phase 7 · Pass the examination
The three examinations
Which paper you sit, how the three differ in length and marks, and what they all test.
Who this is for:Candidates at any stage ·Incorporated-Member candidates ·Chartered Member candidates ·IMIStructE members moving to MIStructE
Three different papers, one purpose: to see what you can do on your own, in a day, with a brief you have never read before.
One day, one question, no help
Whichever paper you sit, the shape is the same. You choose one question from the options offered, and you answer only that one. Everything else follows from it: the schemes, the calculations, the drawings, the details, the method statement. The paper is open book. You cannot bring a laptop.
This is the part of the Professional Review that cannot be prepared retrospectively. The interview assesses years of accumulated work; the examination assesses what you can produce, alone, between 09:30 and the end of the day.
The three papers
The Chartered Membership Examination asks for two distinct schemes, appraised against each other with sustainability as a key criterion, then full design of the chosen scheme.
The Incorporated-Membership Examination asks for one viable scheme rather than two, and puts proportionally more of its marks into the calculations and the drawings.
The IM–CM Supplementary Examination, sat by Incorporated Members moving to Chartered Membership, is a shorter paper. It returns to the two-scheme appraisal that distinguishes the Chartered paper, but stops before full scheme calculations — it asks for calculations on two principal elements rather than all of them.
What every version shares
- Sustainability is a key feature of all questions, and has been since January 2024. Only documents carrying "2024" in the version number describe the current paper.
- Structural stability is fundamental. An unsafe structure, or a scheme where stability is ignored, is an automatic fail — stated identically in all three sets of instructions.
- Generic answers earn nothing. The examiners are looking for candidates to identify and address the main structural challenges in that question.
- Carbon is assessed. Approximate A1–A3 footprints are required, and the Institution gives the method: mass multiplied by an embodied carbon factor.
The three papers side by side
| Chartered | Incorporated | IM–CM supplementary | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schemes required | Two distinct, then a recommendation | One | Two distinct, then a recommendation |
| Total marks | 100 | 100 | 80 |
| Writing time | 7 hours | 7 hours | 3½ hours |
| Lunch break | 30 minutes | 30 minutes | None — the paper ends at 13:00 |
| Calculations cover | All principal elements | All principal elements | Two principal elements |
| Method statement | Yes | Yes | No |
From the three current Exam Guidance and Instructions documents. The supplementary paper is the one most often mis-planned, because its timetable is genuinely different.
The rule that catches supplementary candidates
Institution of Structural Engineers
- The supplementary paper runs to a timetable that ends at 13:00, with no lunch break — about 3½ hours of writing.
- The Chartered and Incorporated papers break for lunch at 13:00 and run until 17:00.
- Preparing for the supplementary paper on a seven-hour rehearsal timetable is the commonest planning error on this route.
- Supplementary examination finish time
- 13:00The supplementary paper runs from 09:30 to 13:00 with no lunch break — 3.5 hours of writing, against 7 for the other two papers.
- Supplementary examination writing time
- 3.5hours
- Supplementary examination total
- 80marksThe Chartered and Incorporated papers are each marked out of 100.
From Exam Guidance and Instructions — Incorporated-Member to Chartered Member Supplementary Examination, Institution of Structural Engineers.
How to use this phase
- 01
Find out which paper you sit
Chartered, Incorporated, or the IM–CM supplementary. They differ in structure, marks and — for the supplementary — in length. Read your own paper's page before anything else.
- 02
Learn the rules of the day early
Open book, prohibited devices, the entry cut-off, what may be written on. These are not last-week details: what you may bring shapes how you prepare the folder you will rely on.
- 03
Build a timetable from the mark allocation
Marks per minute is the only planning principle that survives contact with the day. Work it out for your paper, then adjust it after each mock.
- 04
Practise the sections separately
Schemes, appraisal, client letter, calculations, drawings, details, method statement, carbon. Each has its own page here, and each fails in its own characteristic way.
- 05
Then sit full mocks, in real conditions
On questions you have not read, for the full duration, with only what you may bring. This is the single most repeated piece of advice from candidates who passed.
Related pages and tools
- Chartered examThe five sections, what each is worth, and what the examiners say they are looking for in each.
- Incorporated examOne scheme rather than two, and a different balance of marks across calculations and drawings.
- Supplementary examThe shorter paper for Incorporated Members moving to Chartered Membership — three parts, eighty marks, and a day that ends at one o'clock.
- Exam rulesTimetable, identity, what you may bring, what is prohibited, and the rules that connect the exam to your interview.
- Planning the dayTurning marks into minutes, deciding when to commit to a scheme, and what to do when you fall behind.