An examination of the Golden Boy (4)
I believe the answer is:
oral
'an examination' is the definition.
(oral is a kind of examination)
'the golden boy' is the wordplay.
'the golden' becomes 'or'.
'boy' becomes 'al' (**).
'or'+'al'='ORAL'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for oral that I've seen before include "Vocal test" , "See 18" , "Mouth-related" , "Using speech rather than writing" , "Spoken test" .)