In this guide
Use this material to examine your own work. Confirm current requirements, forms and dates with IStructE before applying.
Work through an opening question, one question for each Core Objective and a closing question against the clock. The guidance stays hidden until you stop.
Plan the discussion
The interview guidance describes a sixty- to ninety-minute discussion covering all ten objectives. Practise allocating time across the objectives so that a lengthy project description does not leave other evidence unexplored. Check the current format before rehearsing.
Work with another person
Ask a colleague or mentor to read the questions and follow up where your contribution is unclear. If you practise alone, record your answers and listen for unnecessary context or unexplained decisions.
Review the practice
For each answer, check whether you described your own contribution, addressed the objective at the relevant level and explained a judgement. Record any objectives for which you need further experience or a clearer example.
Getting value from a mock
Look for
- Answer out loud, in full sentences, at interview length
- Have someone else ask the questions if you possibly can
- Keep your portfolio open and refer to page numbers as you would on the day
- Note the objectives you had nothing ready for
- Repeat it a fortnight later with a fresh draw
Watch for
- Read the questions and think the answers
- Stop when a question is hard: that is the one to work on
- Look at the guidance before answering
- Treat the result as any indication of a real outcome
Questions to ask yourself
- Did I say what I did, in the first person?
Reviewers are interested only in what you personally undertook. Answering as 'we' removes you from your own evidence.
- Did I answer at the level the objective is set at?
Describing supervised work against an objective set at Ability is, in the Institution's own vocabulary, saying you have not met the standard.
- Did I name a judgement, or only an output?
Outputs show that work happened; judgements show the responsibility you carried, which is what the three standards distinguish.
- Which objectives did I have nothing ready for?
That is a gap analysis produced live, and it is the most useful thing a mock gives you.
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.