Exam in which a learner gets nothing right to start with (4)
I believe the answer is:
oral
'exam' is the definition.
(spoken academic test)
'a learner gets nothing right to start with' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'learner' could be 'l' (as in a learner driver with L-plates on their car) and 'l' is found within the answer.
'nothing' could be 'o' (looks like zero - 0) and 'o' is found within the answer.
'right' could be 'r' (abbreviation) and 'r' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'in which' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for oral that I've seen before include "Ant; tourist (dial.)" , "Type of exam" , "Using speech rather than writing" , "By word of mouth (4)" , "By word of mouth, say exam" .)