Use this material to examine your own work. Confirm current requirements, forms and dates with IStructE before applying.
IStructE must confirm your eligibility for a grade. Use these prompts to identify the questions to ask and the matters to resolve first.
Why this is not a decision tool
Eligibility depends on your specific qualification, your specific experience and the Institution's assessment of both. Those are determinations only IStructE makes, and a website that produced an answer would be misleading you in a way that could cost you a year.
So this asks four questions and returns the things you should establish, in writing, before planning anything else.
The order that saves the most time
- Settle the academic question. It is the slowest step and everything else is planned around it. Ask IStructE, get it in writing, keep it.
- Confirm the grade you are seeking. The minimum standards are held per grade and they differ at one objective.
- Choose your IPD route deliberately, rather than drifting into the one your employer happens to offer.
- Then plan the portfolio, the interview and the examination around a date.
Candidates who reverse the first and last of those are the ones who discover a problem six weeks before an application deadline.
Questions to ask yourself
- Which grade am I eligible to apply for, given my qualifications?
It determines the minimum standards you are assessed against and which examination you sit.
- Does my qualification meet the academic requirement for that grade?
This is the slowest step in the whole process and everything else is planned around the answer.
- If not, does further learning or the Technical Report Route apply to me?
The two suit different shortfalls, and only the Institution can say which fits yours.
- Does my practice fit the Research and Development route?
It changes where your evidence comes from, so it is worth knowing years before you submit.
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.