Phase 6 · Sit the interview
Results, re-interviews and appeals
How the decision is approved, what happens when objectives are failed, the three-year window, and the only grounds for appeal.
Who this is for:Candidates at any stage ·Mentors
Fail three or fewer objectives and you are re-interviewed on those alone. Fail four or more and the whole interview is repeated.
The result, and what follows a failure
Institution of Structural Engineers
- After the interview the reviewers inform the Institution of their decision, which is reviewed and approved by the Applications and Professional Review Panel before the result is released to you.
- Dates of the key panel meetings are published annually on the Institution's website.
- If you have failed, the Institution will email you and advise which Core Objectives did not meet the standard.
- Fail three or fewer objectives and you are re-interviewed on those objectives only.
- Fail four or more and a full re-interview is required.
- You have three years to pass the failed objectives before being required to resubmit IPD final report forms for all ten.
- There is no limit on the number of attempts.
- Partial re-interview threshold
- 3or fewer objectives failedYou are re-interviewed on those objectives only, with an updated submission.
- Full re-interview threshold
- 4or more objectives failedThe full interview again, with an updated submission.
- Window to clear failed objectives
- 3yearsWhere up to three objectives were failed at the first interview. After that, IPD final report forms for all ten are required again.
- Number of attempts
- No limit
From IPD Guidance — Chartered Member, Institution of Structural Engineers.
The three-year window is the part to plan around
No limit on attempts sounds generous, and it is. The constraint that actually bites is the three years: clear the failed objectives inside it and you resubmit only what failed; miss it and you are writing all ten forms again.
If the failure was an experience gap rather than a writing one, three years is not as long as it sounds. Start the development plan the week the result arrives, not the month before the next attempt.
Read the feedback literally
You are told which objectives did not meet the standard. That is precise information, and it is worth taking at face value rather than reinterpreting it.
A common mistake is to assume the reviewers meant something adjacent — that "management" really meant the interview went badly overall. It did not. Take the named objectives, go back to the standard for each, and ask the gap-analysis question: is this a writing gap, an evidence gap, a level gap, or an experience gap? The four have completely different remedies.
Appeals are narrow
The Institution operates an appeals procedure, but the grounds are limited. An appeal is not a second opinion on whether you met the standard — that judgement belongs to the reviewers and the panel. It concerns things like extenuating circumstances occurring immediately before or during the application process or the interview.
If you think the process went wrong, contact the Institution and ask about the appeals procedure directly. If you think the judgement went against you, the route is a re-interview, not an appeal.
The other clocks
Two rules connect the interview to the examination, and they catch candidates who pass one and stall on the other:
- Postpone the examination for three consecutive years after the interview and, on eventually passing it, you must apply for a full PRI again.
- The examination must be passed within five years of completing the interview, with no gap longer than three years between attempts.
The Engineering Council normally requires registration within three years of completing the PRI, which is where both rules come from — the point is that the competence demonstrated at interview has to still be current.
What a failure means in practice
| What is repeated | What you resubmit | |
|---|---|---|
| Three or fewer objectives failed | A re-interview on those objectives only | Evidence and forms for the failed objectives, within three years |
| Four or more objectives failed | A full re-interview | The whole submission, as a new application |
| More than three years elapse | A re-interview covering all ten | IPD final report forms for all ten Core Objectives |
From the current IPD guidance. Confirm the process and any fee with IStructE before acting on it.
Related pages and tools
- The PRIWhat the interview is for, who conducts it, how long it lasts, and what it is your job to demonstrate.
- Gap analysisWhat to do about an objective you cannot evidence — and how long each kind of gap actually takes to close.
- Core ObjectivesWhat IStructE assesses, what Knowledge, Experience and Ability actually mean, and where the two grades differ.
- The examinationsWhich paper you sit, how the three differ in length and marks, and what they all test.
- The interviewHow the questioning works, how to answer at the level the standard asks for, and what to do when you do not know.