In this guide
Use this material to examine your own work. Confirm current requirements, forms and dates with IStructE before applying.
The Chartered paper allocates one hundred marks across five sections: two schemes, a client letter, full design calculations, detailed drawings and a method statement.
Producing distinct schemes
For section 1a, consider differences in stability system, framing and grid, foundations, materials, load path and construction method. Changing one alone is insufficient. Significant differences can earn higher marks, provided both schemes remain viable.
For bridges, each scheme should use a different structural form with different spans or load paths to the foundations. A change of material alone is insufficient. Avoid proposing an impractical option merely to dismiss it.
Appraising the options
The recommendation within section 1a generally carries around 8 marks, similar to professional communication in 1b. Discuss relative merits and give reasons for the choice. Select criteria relevant to the brief: economics, structural efficiency, programme, construction sequence, safety during construction and demolition, location, transport, maintenance, robustness and adaptability. Include sustainability in the selection.
Checking principal elements in 2c
Determine the principal structural elements, typically five to seven depending on the question, and provide their form, size and carbon. Bending, shear and a span-to-depth deflection check are adequate for most members. Identify additional checks where needed, such as web buckling under concentrated loads. Multiple load cases and repetitive or simple calculations are not required.
Use design guides to justify sizes after establishing parameters, rather than as the primary sizing method.
Calculating carbon
The Institution gives the method:
> Embodied carbon (kgCO₂e) = mass (kg) × embodied carbon factor (kgCO₂e/kg)
Industry-average factors are recommended, although other suitable values may be used. Prepare with the Institution's *How to Calculate Embodied Carbon* document and free online course.
Drawings and construction
Drawings should be in proportion and dimensioned, with plans and sections including foundations. Add elevations where needed. Symmetrical structures can use part plans; identical floors can share a plan. Ordinarily include at least three critical details, such as cantilever connections, major splices or retaining wall details.
Tailor the method statement to the scheme, including the activities required to build it and their health and safety implications.
Where the marks are, and where the time goes
| Situation | Marks | Roughly, at 4.2 minutes per mark |
|---|---|---|
| 1a: two schemes and a recommendation | 40 | About 2¾ hours |
| 1b: client letter | 10 | About 40 minutes |
| 2c: calculations and carbon | 22 | About 1½ hours |
| 2d: drawings and details | 20 | About 1½ hours |
| 2e: method statement | 8 | About 35 minutes |
The preparation timetable calculated from the published marks and the 420-minute writing day: a starting point only. The Institution publishes an indicative timetable in the Exam Preparation Guidance, and advises building your own from your own mocks. Reading, thinking and checking time all have to come out of these figures.
The Chartered paper, in summary
Look for
- Make the two schemes differ in three or four respects, not one
- Keep both schemes buildable
- Show stability explicitly for both
- Decide which five to seven members are principal elements, and say so
- Recognise where an extra check governs, and say why
- Attempt all five sections, however short the last one has to be
Watch for
- Present one scheme in two materials
- Design every beam in the building
- Run multiple load cases when the worst case will do
- Draw to construction standard when estimating standard is asked for
- Write a generic method statement
- Re-open the scheme decision after lunch
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.