Why Engineers Australia Rejected My CDR Report?

Some of the most common mistakes engineers make which lead to their CDR getting rejected are:

• When you write Career Episodes, you do need to mention the mathematical calculations you did and how you did them, the software you used, the nature of engineering challenges you faced but then you should be beware of letting your narrative become too technical. When you include too many diagrams or photos or tables, it becomes difficult for the assessors to identify competency elements they are looking for. Make sure you only include the details EA asks for and provide just the bare necessary details or specifications regarding your role or your project.
• EA guidelines clearly specify that each Career Episode should be written in an ‘essay’ form. Even though you have to number the CE paragraphs, be wary of using bullet points. Your Career Episodes should clearly have an Introduction, your main Engineering activity you set out to describe, and a Summary. The text should cover as many of the competency elements mentioned in the Summary Statement format as possible. Just like an ‘essay’, try to avoid using ‘bullet points’ in your CE.
• The suggested length of the Career Episode is 1,000 to 2,500 words. Try to respect the suggested word limit but do include all the details EA has asked for. We recommend you to read the EA guidelines and ANZSCO Code descriptions first and then, decide which parts of your career growth can define the particular competencies. Then, prepare your essay draft. Edit out all the necessary details and underline the parts that precisely highlight the competencies you have. Edit and proofread your CE, run it through some good-quality plagiarism checking software, and then run the essay through experienced CDR reviewers who can tell you how to improve your essay.
• Never copy and paste project details from other people’s CDR or from Internet sources. The CDR samples available online are only for reference. Read through them and try to fish out for similar details from your own career and academic details. The CDR EA is meant to be written by you – and offer a glimpse into ‘your’ career experience and growth.
• Do not talk about one project in two career episodes. Dedicate one Career Episode to just one project you have done or one aspect of engineering you want to highlight. For example, you might choose to write your first Career Episode on the project you did while you were studying, choose the second Career Episode topic for the projects you handled in your first job, and choose the third Career Episode from the later period or your Career. Or you can choose to write two Career Episodes on the projects you did while you were still in Engineering College and dedicate only one CE to your on-job experience.
• The MSA booklet specifically mentions that you should use first person singular expressions in your Career Episode. When you mention about group activities or team work, you lose focus on your specific role in the project. Talk about ‘I did…’ instead of what ‘We did…’ Some of the ways in which you can start your sentences are ‘I planned’, ‘I designed’, ‘I documented’, ‘I prepared’, ‘I measured’, ‘I identified’, ‘I evaluated’ etc.
• Ideally, you should write your career episodes in correct Australian English, which is very similar to British English. In case you do write your Career Episodes in your own language, do not forget to include high-quality translation for them in your CDR report. Many times, EA might not be able to assess your CDR report because they are simply not able to understand it.
• When you present your CDR report to the EA, remember that you are submitting an official document which is meant to be written by a professional. You must pay attention to its formatting, correctness of its spellings and grammar, and the flow of sentences in your CEs.
• Be sure to include problem statements in your CEs and mention the steps you took to solve them. The project details you were involved with and what exactly you did in the project should form the crux of your Career Episode.
• Design activities are given high weightage in CDR assessment. Lack of designing experience may be an impediment to your CDR getting assessed positively. Hence, try to fish out with any creative engineering or technological experience you have and make sure to highlight in at least two of your Career Episodes. You can talk to our experts to discuss what you can include as ‘design activity’ in your CDR.
• The sure-shot way to get your CDR rejected is to copy content (or part of content) from the Internet sources or a CDR that has already been submitted to the Engineers Australia (EA). Intentionally or unintentionally, people tend to copy their Career Episodes or ideas from a CDR sample that they come across. EA has sophisticated software systems to catch all such instances of plagiarism. Any misleading and false information is also seen as a major breach of ethics on the part of the candidate and may mean negative assessment of his or her CDR.

If you manage to avoid these mistakes in your CDR, you might be able to save your time, money and efforts and get the ‘skilled’ visa to Australia.

To get assistance with CDR writing or other CDR services, you can contact CDRReport’s team of experts at info@cdrreport.org.