Use this material to examine your own work. Confirm current requirements, forms and dates with ICE before applying.
Practice questions
These 180 authored prompts are for personal practice and mentor discussion. They are not official interview questions or predictions of an assessment.
180 questions
Take me through your career so far, in about two minutes.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Why did you move at that point?
- What was the biggest step up?
- What do you do now that you could not do three years ago?
Why do you want to become professionally registered?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What will change about how you work?
- What responsibility comes with it?
- What would you do if your employer asked you to do something the Code of Conduct prohibits?
Which of your projects are you most proud of, and why?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was hardest about it?
- What would you change?
- What did you personally contribute that nobody else could have?
Talk me through the most technically difficult problem you have solved.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What assumption was the answer most sensitive to?
- How did you check it?
- What would you have done with half the information?
How did you know your design was right?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did your independent check give you?
- What would have made you distrust the model?
- Have you ever found an error that way?
Tell me about a time your first answer turned out to be wrong.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who did you tell, and how quickly?
- What did it cost?
- What do you do differently now?
Which code or standard governed your design, and where does it stop helping?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What is the physical basis of that clause?
- What did you do where it did not apply?
- How current is your knowledge of it?
Explain a piece of software you used and what it does not tell you.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How did you validate it?
- What boundary conditions did you assume?
- What would you check before issuing?
You introduced a new technique. How did you satisfy yourself it was safe to use?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who else uses it, and did you speak to them?
- What was your fallback?
- How did you get others to accept it?
How do you keep your technical knowledge current?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What have you learned in the last six months?
- What changed about your work as a result?
- What are you weakest at now?
Describe a time you had to make a decision with incomplete information.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What would have changed your mind?
- Who carried the residual risk?
- Did it turn out as you expected?
What happens to what you designed at the end of its life?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who will maintain it?
- What did you design in for them?
- What did you make harder for them?
Take me through the calculation in Appendix B.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Why that load factor?
- What if the ground stiffness were half that?
- Where is the conservatism in this?
What is the biggest risk in the design you have described?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who knows about that risk?
- Where is it recorded?
- What would you do differently?
How did you decide the level of analysis was appropriate?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What would a simpler method have given you?
- Did the refinement change the answer?
- When would you have gone further?
Describe a technical disagreement with a colleague and how it was resolved.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who was right?
- What convinced you?
- What if you had not been able to agree?
What does buildability mean in the context of something you designed?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who told you that?
- How did you find out?
- What is the temporary condition that governs it?
How would you approach a problem in a discipline you have not worked in?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who would you go to?
- What would you not sign?
- Have you ever declined work for this reason?
Tell me about a programme you built and what went wrong with it.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who did you tell, and when?
- What did you drop?
- What would you build differently next time?
Describe a time you had to allocate resources you did not have enough of.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who lost out?
- How did you explain it?
- Would you make the same call now?
Give me an example of leading people who did not report to you.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What argument worked?
- What did you do when someone would not move?
- What would you do differently?
Who is better at their job because of you?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How did you identify the gap?
- How did you know it had worked?
- What did you learn about how you teach?
How do you assure yourself that work you delegated has been done properly?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Has that ever failed?
- How do you check without undermining them?
- What do you never delegate?
Tell me about someone in your team who was not performing.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was the underlying cause?
- What was your part in it?
- How did the rest of the team react?
How do you make sure quality processes actually catch anything?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What error got through?
- How was it found?
- What did you change afterwards?
What did you do when your programme and your quality requirements conflicted?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who made the final call?
- What did it cost?
- What would you do if overruled?
Describe how you plan a piece of work from a standing start.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What do you always get wrong?
- How do you handle a change in scope?
- How do you know if you are behind?
How did you organise and direct a team through a change of direction?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who resisted, and why?
- What did you do about morale?
- What did you learn about how you communicate change?
What is the difference between managing and leading, in your experience?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Which are you better at?
- Give me an example of the second.
- Who have you learned leadership from?
Tell me about a time you had to manage a specialist whose field you did not understand.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How did you know their advice was sound?
- What if you had doubted it?
- How did you record that reliance?
What was the value of the budget you personally controlled?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What could you commit without asking?
- Who did you report to on it?
- How often did you forecast?
Tell me about a time a cost ran over and what you did.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- When did you know?
- Why not earlier?
- What did you change about how you forecast?
Which form of contract were you working under, and what did it mean for you?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What is an early warning for?
- How was a change valued?
- What was your employer's risk?
Describe a change or variation you assessed.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was the basis of the valuation?
- Who disagreed?
- What was the programme effect?
Where did you trade cost against risk or quality?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who took that risk?
- Was it recorded?
- What if it had gone the other way?
How does your work make or lose money for your employer?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What is your utilisation?
- Where do projects lose money?
- What decision of yours affected that?
What statutory requirements applied to your project?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who obtained it?
- What happened when a condition was breached?
- What would you check next time?
Tell me about a time you advised against something on commercial grounds.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who did you have to convince?
- What if they had gone ahead anyway?
- Were you proved right?
How did you build a cost estimate, and how wrong was it?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Where were you furthest out?
- What did you not allow for?
- How do you estimate now?
What is the difference between cost, price and value?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Give me an example from your project.
- Who decides value?
- How do you argue for whole-life cost?
Which CDM duty holder were you on your principal project?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What were your duties?
- How did you discharge them?
- What information did you have to provide, and to whom?
Name a hazard you eliminated by design, and one you could not.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Where is that residual risk recorded?
- Who reads that?
- What did the contractor do with it?
Tell me about a time you stopped work, or refused to sign something.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who was unhappy?
- What changed as a result?
- Would you do it again the same way?
What health and safety legislation applies to your work, and how current is your knowledge of it?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- When was your last formal training?
- What has changed recently?
- How do you keep up?
Describe a risk assessment where your input changed the method.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How did you know it was followed?
- What was the residual risk?
- Who briefed the workforce?
How have you shown leadership on health and safety, rather than compliance?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who else does it differently now?
- How did you make it stick?
- What resistance did you meet?
Tell me about an incident or near miss you were involved in.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was the root cause?
- What was your contribution to it?
- What is different now?
What have you done about welfare or mental health, as distinct from physical safety?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did you actually do?
- What was the outcome?
- What would you do differently?
You see unsafe work on a site you are visiting but do not control. What do you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What if they ignore you?
- What if it is a client's site?
- Have you actually done this?
How did you design for the people who will maintain or operate it?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Did you speak to the operator?
- What did they tell you?
- What did you have to leave them with?
What did you do differently because of sustainability?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was the alternative?
- Who paid for it?
- How did you quantify the benefit?
Where is the carbon in what you designed or built?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was your baseline?
- How confident are you in that number?
- What would have made the biggest difference?
Tell me about a whole-life argument you made, and whether it won.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What discount rate did you use?
- What assumption was it most sensitive to?
- What would have changed the answer?
What did your project make worse?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Was that recorded anywhere?
- Who bore that cost?
- What would you argue for next time?
How do you balance a client's cost target against a lower-carbon option?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Have you done that?
- What happened?
- What would you do if overruled?
What does the climate the asset will live in mean for what you designed?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What allowance did you use, and from where?
- What happens if it is exceeded?
- Who decided the design life?
What did you reuse rather than replace, and how did you justify it?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was the residual life?
- How did you establish that?
- What did you do about the uncertainty?
How would you explain the industry's decarbonisation challenge to someone outside it?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What is the hardest part to solve?
- What is your organisation doing?
- What could you personally change?
Explain the technical heart of your project as if I were not an engineer.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Now explain why it was difficult.
- How would you tell a resident?
- How would you brief a board?
Tell me about the hardest thing you have had to tell someone at work.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How did you prepare?
- What did they say?
- What did you learn about delivering bad news?
Describe a time you changed a decision because of what someone else told you.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Why had you not known that?
- How do you seek that out now?
- Who do you make a point of asking?
Tell me about a public or stakeholder engagement you took part in.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was the hardest question?
- What did you get wrong?
- What changed as a result of the engagement?
What have you done about diversity and inclusion?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What difference did it make?
- What have you changed about how you work?
- What is your organisation still bad at?
How do you decide what to leave out of a technical report?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Give me an example.
- How do you structure for a busy reader?
- What goes in an appendix?
Describe a conflict you had with a client or contractor and how it ended.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was your part in it?
- What would have prevented it?
- How is the relationship now?
How did you brief people on a change of method so that it was actually followed?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How did you know they had understood?
- What did you find when you checked?
- What do you do differently now?
Which document that you wrote are you most pleased with, and why?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who read it?
- What did it change?
- What would you improve?
Tell me about an ethical dilemma you have faced at work.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What would you have done if it had cost you your job?
- Who did you consult?
- What does the Code of Conduct say about it?
What does the ICE Code of Conduct require of you?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- When did you last read it?
- Which obligation is hardest?
- Give me an example of it applying.
What are you not competent to do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Have you ever declined work?
- What happened?
- How do you know when you are near the edge?
What has your CPD changed about the way you work?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What gap did you identify in yourself?
- What is in your plan for next year?
- What was a waste of time?
What have you contributed to the profession beyond your job?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did you get from it?
- What will you do once registered?
- Would you sponsor someone?
Your employer asks you to do something you believe is wrong. What do you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What if you were overruled?
- What would you put in writing?
- At what point would you go outside the organisation?
You discover a mistake in work that has already been built. What now?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who do you tell first?
- What if it was your own error?
- Have you had to do this?
How would you handle a conflict of interest?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Have you declared one?
- What if a colleague did not?
- What did you do about your reviewers?
A colleague asks you to sign off work you have not checked. What do you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What if there is no time?
- What if they are senior to you?
- What does signing actually mean?
How will your professional obligations change once you are registered?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What will you do about CPD?
- Would you become an SCE?
- What would make you resign your registration?
What is the biggest challenge facing civil engineering at the moment?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What is your organisation doing?
- What could you do?
- What is the counter-argument?
How should infrastructure be made more resilient?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who pays?
- How do you decide what to protect?
- Where have you seen this done well?
What difference is digital engineering making to your work?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What has it made worse?
- What do you check that the model cannot?
- Who owns the data?
What are the risks of using artificial intelligence in engineering?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who is accountable when it is wrong?
- How would you verify it?
- Would you use it in a design?
Why does the industry struggle to attract and keep people?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What have you done about it?
- What would you change about graduate training?
- Why did you stay?
What did a recent industry failure teach the profession?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What changed in your organisation?
- Could it happen where you work?
- What would you have done?
How would you explain to a resident why their road is closed for six months?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What if they say it could be done faster?
- What if they are right?
- How would you write that as a letter?
What would you say to a school group about civil engineering?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Have you done this?
- What did they ask?
- What surprised you?
As a designer, how do you know your design can be built safely?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Have you been on site for it?
- What surprised you?
- What did you change afterwards?
As a contractor's engineer, how do you challenge a design you think is wrong?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who carries the design risk then?
- What if they refuse?
- Have you done this?
As a client-side engineer, how do you hold designers to account without designing for them?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- When did you accept something you disagreed with?
- When did you insist?
- How did you decide which?
In asset management, how do you decide what not to fix?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did you defer, and what happened?
- Who accepted that risk?
- How do you defend it publicly?
As a project manager, what is the engineering part of your job now?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- When did you last make a technical decision?
- How do you stay current?
- What if you cannot answer that?
You work in a specialist niche. How do you show breadth?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What happens either side of your work?
- What have you done to get outside it?
- What would you do on a different project?
In your report you say 'we decided'. Who actually decided?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was your recommendation?
- Was it accepted?
- What would you have done if overruled?
What part of this project did you not understand at the time?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How did you get by?
- Who helped?
- What would you ask for now?
If you started this project again tomorrow, what would you do differently?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Why did you not do that then?
- What stopped you?
- Have you applied that since?
What would have changed your mind about that decision?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How close was it?
- Who argued for the other option?
- Did you test that?
Your CV says one thing and your report suggests another. Can you explain?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Which is right?
- How did that happen?
- Is there anything else you would like to correct?
What is the most useful thing you learned from someone junior to you?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did you do with it?
- How do you create room for that?
- What do you ask new starters?
Tell me about a project that failed, in any sense.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was your contribution?
- What was the root cause?
- What is different about how you work now?
Where in your report is your weakest evidence?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What are you doing about that?
- Why did you include it?
- What else could you have written about?
You arrive on site and the ground is not what the investigation said. What do you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who decides?
- What is the commercial position?
- Has this happened to you?
A client asks you to reduce the design to save money, and you think it is marginal. What now?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Where is your line?
- What would you record?
- What if they went to someone else?
You inherit a project that is behind and over budget. What are your first three actions?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What if the true position is worse than reported?
- Who do you tell?
- What do you do about the person who was reporting it?
Your specialist subcontractor's design does not look right to you. What do you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What if they insist?
- Who is responsible?
- Have you done this?
You are asked to work on something in a country whose standards you do not know. How do you proceed?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What would you not do?
- How would you check local practice?
- Who signs it?
How would you approach designing something you have never designed before?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who would review it?
- What would you do if nobody had done it before?
- When would you decline?
A junior engineer brings you a calculation you think is wrong. How do you handle it?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What if they are right?
- What if it keeps happening?
- How do you check without demoralising them?
How would you handle a whistleblowing situation?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What would you document?
- Who would you consult?
- What protects you?
Explain load path in something you have worked on.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What if that element failed?
- Where is the redundancy?
- What is the temporary condition?
What is the difference between a limit state and a factor of safety?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Why partial factors?
- Which uncertainty dominates?
- When would you use a global factor?
How does water affect the problem you described?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What is the worst case?
- What happens if the drainage blocks?
- How long does it take to fail?
What controlled your design — strength, stiffness, or something else?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- By how much?
- What would change that?
- Was that efficient?
What is the most common mode of failure in the sort of work you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What guards against it?
- Have you seen it?
- What in your design was vulnerable to it?
How would you check a result you had no independent means of verifying?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What would make you distrust it?
- How much conservatism would you add?
- Would you say so in writing?
What did you assume, and what if the assumption were wrong?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who else knew about that assumption?
- Was it recorded?
- Did anyone check it later?
How do tolerances affect what you designed or built?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What happens if they stack up?
- What did you allow?
- What went wrong on site?
What is the temporary condition, and is it worse than the permanent one?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who designed the temporary works?
- Who checked it?
- What was the worst stage?
How did you specify materials, and why those?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What exposure class?
- What is the design life?
- Could you have used less?
Talk me through a technique you selected and why it was the right one.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What else could you have used?
- When would that have been better?
- Who agreed?
How do you contribute to continuous improvement where you work?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Was it adopted?
- How did you make the case?
- What happened when it was not?
How do you manage your own workload against other people's priorities?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- When did you last say no?
- What happened?
- How do you decide what slips?
How do you assist colleagues to meet changing technical needs?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did they need?
- Did it work?
- What would developing them look like?
How did you define the requirements for something, rather than receive them?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who else was involved?
- What did you rule out?
- What did the client think they wanted?
Where have you accepted responsibility for something that went wrong?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did you say to whom?
- What was the consequence for you?
- What changed?
Give me an example of holistic judgement — where technical, commercial, safety and environmental factors pulled in different directions.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did you sacrifice?
- Who disagreed?
- Would you decide the same now?
How have you promoted best practice beyond your own team?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who adopted it?
- How did you know?
- What resistance did you meet?
Tell me about communicating a new concept to a non-technical stakeholder.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did they do with it?
- What did they not understand?
- How would you do it now?
Is there anything you have not had the chance to tell us?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Tell me more about that.
- Why did that not appear in your report?
What will you do next, professionally, once this is behind you?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What are you weakest at now?
- Would you mentor someone?
- What is in your development action plan?
What did you have to investigate before you could start designing?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did you specify?
- What did it cost?
- What was still unknown afterwards?
How do you decide when a design is finished?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Have you issued something you were unhappy with?
- What did you say about it?
- When did you push back?
Describe something you specified that turned out to be difficult to build.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How did you find out?
- What did it cost?
- What do you check for now?
How do you handle an interface with another discipline?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was assumed wrongly?
- Where was it recorded?
- Who owned the interface?
What is the most important thing you check on a drawing before it is issued?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What have you caught?
- What has got past you?
- What is your checking process?
How much of your engineering work is checked by someone else?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What do you sign yourself?
- Who checks you?
- What has your checker found?
Tell me about a piece of research or investigation you did to solve a problem.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How did you know that source was sound?
- Did you speak to anyone?
- What would you do if there were no guidance?
What is the difference between the model and the structure?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Which idealisation worried you most?
- How did you test it?
- What did the real behaviour do?
How do you run a meeting that reaches a decision?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What do you do when it drifts?
- How do you handle a dominant voice?
- What happens afterwards?
Tell me about a risk you managed that was not a safety risk.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was the mitigation?
- Who owned it?
- Did it materialise?
How do you handle work being taken away from you, or given to you late?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did you tell your manager?
- What got dropped?
- How do you protect quality when that happens?
Describe how you brought a team together after something went badly.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How did you handle blame?
- What changed practically?
- What did you learn about yourself?
What does good look like in a team you have run?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How do you build that?
- What breaks it?
- When has it gone wrong?
How do you decide who does what?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- When did you stretch someone?
- How did you manage the risk?
- What if it had gone wrong?
What does your organisation's procurement route mean for how you work?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What would change under a different route?
- Where does design risk sit?
- What are the drawbacks?
Tell me about a time you had to justify your fee or your cost to someone.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did you concede?
- What did you hold?
- Would you price it the same again?
Where does the money come from for the work you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What constraints does that create?
- What happens at the end of the period?
- How does that affect whole-life decisions?
How do you make sure a change is agreed before it is done?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What if there is no time?
- What happened when it was not agreed?
- Who has authority?
What information did you have to pass on to whoever comes next?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who read it?
- How do you know?
- What would you do to make it useful?
How do you make sure a subcontractor's safety standards match yours?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did you find?
- What did you do?
- What if they were the only supplier?
What would you do if you were asked to work in a way you thought was unsafe?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What if you were overruled?
- What would you write down?
- Has this happened?
How do you keep safety alive on a job that has been running for two years without incident?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What have you seen drift?
- How do you spot it?
- What did you change?
Should we be building this at all?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Have you ever said so?
- What happened?
- Where does your responsibility end?
How would you measure whether your project was sustainable?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did you actually measure?
- Against what baseline?
- What did the measure miss?
What does the circular economy mean for civil engineering?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What have you reused?
- What stopped you?
- Who takes the liability?
How do you deal with a sustainability requirement you think is tokenistic?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Have you made that case?
- What happened?
- What would have persuaded them?
How do you write for someone who will only read the first paragraph?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Give me an example.
- What if the answer is complicated?
- How do you avoid oversimplifying?
Tell me about a time you were misunderstood.
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was the consequence?
- Whose fault was it?
- What do you do differently?
How do you communicate uncertainty to someone who wants a straight answer?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Give me an example.
- What if they demand a number?
- What do you record?
What makes a good technical note?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who is it for?
- What do you leave out?
- How long should it be?
What would make you refuse to put your name to something?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Has it happened?
- What did you do?
- Who supported you?
How do you deal with pressure?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- When was it too much?
- Who did you tell?
- How do you spot it in others?
What professional bodies or networks are you part of, and what do you get from them?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What was the last event you went to?
- What did you take from it?
- What would you like to contribute?
How do you decide whether advice you have been given is sound?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Have you ever rejected specialist advice?
- On what basis?
- How did you record the reliance?
What does public safety mean in your day-to-day work?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Give me an example.
- When has that conflicted with something else?
- What did you do?
A client asks you to leave something out of a report. What do you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What if it were only a matter of emphasis?
- What if they insisted?
- Who else relies on that report?
Your programme requires an activity that you know cannot be done safely in the time. What do you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who do you tell?
- What if they say do it anyway?
- What would you record?
You are asked to take on more work than you can do properly. What do you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- When did you last do that?
- What happened?
- What if the answer was 'do it anyway'?
A long-standing practice in your organisation looks wrong to you. What do you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Have you done this?
- What was the reason it started?
- How did people react?
You are the only person who has spotted a problem. Nobody agrees with you. What do you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How would you test yourself?
- Who would you go to?
- What if you were wrong?
Your programme, your budget and your quality requirements cannot all be met. Which goes?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who makes that call?
- What is never negotiable?
- Have you been here?
You find that a colleague has been signing off work they are not competent to check. What do you do?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What about what has already been issued?
- How do you speak to them?
- What if it is your manager?
How should the industry improve its productivity?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What have you seen work?
- What is the barrier?
- What is your organisation doing?
What role should engineers play in public debate about infrastructure?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Have you done it?
- Where is the boundary?
- What if your employer disagreed?
How should infrastructure be funded?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Who benefits?
- Over what period?
- What is wrong with your own answer?
What does water security mean for engineers in this country?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What is the biggest constraint?
- What would you do first?
- Whose responsibility is it?
What are the security risks in the way we design and operate infrastructure now?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How do you handle that in your own work?
- What did you do about your report?
- Who advises you?
Which attribute area do you think you have evidenced best, and why?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- And the weakest?
- What are you doing about that?
- Why did you not write about it?
How did you choose which projects to write about?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- What did you leave out?
- Why?
- What would that have shown?
What has changed on that project since you wrote about it?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Did it perform as you expected?
- What surprised you?
- What would you change now?
Who would disagree with your account of that project?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- Why would they see it differently?
- Are they right?
- Did you speak to them?
What are you working on now, and what is difficult about it?
Use an example from your own work. Explain your responsibility, the information you used, the checks you made and what happened.
Follow-up questions
- How will you approach that?
- Who will you ask?
- What is the risk?
No questions match your search.
Search 180 authored questions by subject or keyword. Select a question, answer aloud using your own work and discuss the reasoning with a mentor.
Practise at the relevant level
Check the standard required by the attribute or Core Objective you are discussing. Explain whether you observed the work, contributed under supervision or took responsibility for the decision.
Ask follow-up questions about assumptions, alternatives, checks and outcomes. Use the discussion to identify unclear evidence or experience you still need. These prompts do not predict official questions or an assessment result.
Official sources
Selected publisher pages were rechecked in September 2026. Other source records were last checked in July 2026. Open the latest official document before relying on a requirement.