In this guide
Use this material to examine your own work. Confirm current requirements, forms and dates with IStructE before applying.
The minimum standard is Ability for both Incorporated-Member and Chartered Member.
What strong and weak evidence look like
Look for
- Sketches and diagrams that explain structural behaviour rather than decorate the page.
- A report or note for a non-technical reader, with an explanation of the decision it supported.
- Correspondence explaining how you helped resolve a disagreement.
- A presentation you gave, and what the audience did afterwards.
- Evidence of giving positive critical feedback on someone else's work.
Watch for
- A portfolio that is itself badly organised: it is being assessed under this objective.
- Documents where you are invisible: no indication of what you wrote or decided.
- "Excellent communication skills" as a claim rather than a demonstration.
- Not giving a presentation at the interview, which fails this objective outright.
Portfolio items that tend to work here
Suggestions, not a required list. What matters is that the item is yours, that it is annotated, and that it demonstrates the standard rather than the subject.
Questions to ask yourself
- Who did not understand, and what did I do about it?
Communication evidence needs an audience with a gap in it.
- Is my portfolio itself well made?
It is assessed under this objective. A disorganised portfolio argues against you before a word is spoken.
- Can I explain my most technical project to someone who is not an engineer, in two minutes?
Reviewers ask, and it is harder than it sounds.
The same objective, in different kinds of work
| Setting | What the evidence tends to look like |
|---|---|
| Design office | A sketch that settles an argument; a technical note that sets out options and a recommendation. |
| Site | Briefing a changed method and checking that it was understood and followed. |
| Client-facing | Turning a structural risk into a decision the client could actually make. |
Illustrative. The objectives are written to be met in a range of ways by anyone practising as a structural engineer.
How reviewers tend to approach this objective
- The presentation itself, and how you handle interruption.
- Asking you to explain a detail from your portfolio as though the reviewer were not an engineer.
- Asking about a disagreement and how you resolved it.
- Probing whether you produced the drawings you have submitted.
There is a bank of original practice questions in the interview question bank, filterable by objective and by grade.
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.