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Phase 1 · Get your bearings

How IStructE professional qualification works

The Professional Review has two parts, and they assess different things. This is how the whole process fits together.

Who this is for:Candidates at any stage

The Institution's Professional Review has two parts: a Professional Review Interview and an examination. Both must be satisfied before you can be elected to membership — and they test genuinely different things.

The Professional Review has two independent partsThe Professional Review divides into the Professional Review Interview, which assesses accumulated evidence against the ten Core Objectives, and the examination, which assesses what a candidate can produce alone in a day. Both must be satisfied before election to membership.The Professional ReviewBoth parts must be satisfied before you are eligible for election to membership.PHASE 6The Professional Review InterviewLooks backwards. Two trained reviewers read your portfolio, your ten IPDfinal report forms and your two-page experience report, then question youacross all ten Core Objectives. 60 to 90 minutes, normally remote.PHASE 7The examinationLooks at the day. One question, chosen from those offered, answeredalone and open-book — schemes, calculations, drawings, critical detailsand a method statement.Election to membershipPassing one tells you nothing about the other. They need separate preparation, over different timescales.
The two parts assess different things, over different timescales. Both must be satisfied before election.

What the Professional Review consists of

Institution of Structural Engineers

  • The Institution's Professional Review process contains two parts: the Professional Review Interview (PRI) and the Examination.
  • Candidates who satisfy both parts will be eligible for election to Chartered Membership.
  • Initial Professional Development is described in terms of Core Objectives, which are defined to minimum standards.
  • The interview verifies that you have achieved the Core Objectives to the minimum standards. It is your responsibility, during the interview, to demonstrate that you have.
Core Objectives
10Compulsory, and all ten are assessed at the interview.
Reviewers at the interview
2Trained, experienced members of the Institution.
Interview length
60 to 90minutesIt varies with how long the reviewers need to satisfy themselves on each Core Objective.

From IPD Guidance — Chartered Member, Institution of Structural Engineers.

The two parts do different work

This is the thing most worth understanding early, because candidates routinely prepare for one and assume it covers the other.

The Professional Review Interview looks backwards at what you have done. Two reviewers read your portfolio and your report forms, and question you until they are satisfied that you have reached the minimum standard in each of the ten Core Objectives. It is about your evidence, your responsibility and your judgement on real projects.

The examination looks at what you can do, on the day, alone, with a brief you have never seen. It is a scheme-design test: read a brief, produce viable structural solutions, appraise them, communicate a recommendation, calculate, draw, and set out how it would be built.

You can be strong at one and weak at the other. Passing one tells you nothing about the other, and neither is a substitute for the other.

The whole process, in orderSettle the academic requirement, complete Initial Professional Development against the ten Core Objectives, assemble the portfolio and report forms, sit the Professional Review Interview and the examination in either order, then election. The academic step is the slowest and everything else is planned around it.1Academic baseConfirmed in writing by IStructE. The slowest step — settle it first.2Initial Professional DevelopmentOne of three routes, recorded against the ten Core Objectives, with a mentor.3Portfolio and formsReady at the point you apply, not the point your reviewers ask.4Professional Review InterviewTwo reviewers, all ten objectives, your responsibility to demonstrate each.5ExaminationOne question, one day, alone. May be sat before or after the interview.6ElectionApproved by the Applications and Professional Review Panel.
The shape of it: an academic base, initial professional development against the Core Objectives, then the two parts of the Professional Review — which may be taken in either order.

What has to be satisfied

  1. 01

    An academic base

    The qualifications behind you have to meet the requirement for the grade you are seeking. Where they do not, there are assessment and alternative routes — and all of them take months, so this is the part to resolve first.

  2. 02

    Initial Professional Development

    The progressive development of the knowledge and skills needed to practise as a structural engineer, evidenced against ten Core Objectives to defined minimum standards. There are three routes for demonstrating it.

  3. 03

    A portfolio and IPD final report forms

    A single PDF of no more than 300 pages, sub-divided by Core Objective, plus a two-page experience report and a final report form for each objective.

  4. 04

    The Professional Review Interview

    Two reviewers, remotely, for 60 to 90 minutes, opening with a presentation of about ten minutes and no more than ten slides.

  5. 05

    The examination

    A seven-hour scheme-design paper, open book, with reading time before it starts. The format differs between the Chartered, Incorporated and supplementary examinations.

  6. 06

    Election, and registration

    Satisfying both parts makes you eligible for election to membership. Engineering Council registration as CEng or IEng follows where the academic and competence requirements are met.

Where are you, actually?

  1. Has IStructE confirmed that my qualifications meet the requirement for the grade I want?

    Not "do I have a degree" — has the Institution accepted it. Resolving a shortfall takes months, and every other plan depends on it.

  2. Can I name evidence against all ten Core Objectives?

    All ten are assessed, and it is your job at the interview to demonstrate each one. A gap found now is a development plan; a gap found at interview is a re-interview.

  3. Could I produce two genuinely distinct schemes for an unfamiliar brief, in a day?

    That is the examination. It is a different skill from evidencing your career, and it needs its own practice.

  4. Do I have a supporter, and a mentor?

    A supporter confirms you are a fit and proper person; a mentor helps you get there. They are different roles and you may need both.

Related pages and tools

Read the official guidance