Exam covers scripture that is initially from Bhutan? (8)
I believe the answer is:
oriental
'from bhutan?' is the definition.
(Bhutan is an Asian country)
'exam covers scripture that is initially' is the wordplay.
'exam' becomes 'oral' (spoken academic test).
'covers' indicates putting letters inside.
'scripture' becomes 'NT' (New Testament).
'that is' becomes 'ie' (abbreviation for id est, 'that is' in Latin).
'initially' means one lot of letters go next to another (some letters go before others).
'nt' after 'ie' is 'ient'.
'oral' enclosing 'ient' is 'ORIENTAL'.
(Other definitions for oriental that I've seen before include "from Asia?" , "could be Chinese" , "Maybe Chinese" , "Wading bird" , "Of the eastern or Asian world" .)