In this guide
Use this material to examine your own work. Confirm current requirements, forms and dates with IStructE before applying.
Practise individual examination sections for fifteen to twenty-five minutes at a time. A weakness in one section can be addressed without repeating the whole paper.
Using short exercises
Focused exercises let you practise a weak section without taking a day for a full paper. A detail takes fifteen minutes, a client letter twenty-five and a calculation twenty. Check whether you produced usable work within the time.
Areas to practise
- Critical details: the fifty exercises focus on junctions where a design issue needs resolving. Distinguish critical details from typical ones.
- Client letters: the thirty communication exercises include a brief requiring discussion or challenge. Practise a clear response within the ten-mark allocation.
- Method statements: the twenty scenarios include constraints that affect the construction sequence. Allow thirty minutes for the eight to ten marks.
- Foundations: include them in both calculations and drawings, even under time pressure.
Timing the work
Use the time stated for each exercise. Compare what you can complete with the examination's allowance, then adjust your approach before the next attempt.
What is in the bank
| Kind | How many | Time each |
|---|---|---|
| Client letters | 30 | 20–25 minutes |
| Critical details | 50 | 15 minutes |
| Calculations | 40 | 20–25 minutes |
| Foundations | 20 | 20 minutes |
| Method statements | 20 | 25 minutes |
160 exercises in total. Each carries a note on what a marker would be looking for, hidden until you have made your attempt.
Questions to ask yourself
- Did I finish inside the time?
The examination is a time-management problem before it is anything else, and the only way to find out is to be timed.
- Would a stranger understand what I produced?
Legibility is a marking criterion, and it is the first thing to go under pressure.
- Did I answer this brief, or a generic version of it?
Marks are not awarded for generic answers: the examiners state it plainly.
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.