Note on smart assessment (7)
I believe the answer is:
testing
'assessment' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'note on smart' is the wordplay.
'note' becomes 'te' (musical note).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'smart' becomes 'sting' (both can mean to burn or hurt).
'te'+'sting'='TESTING'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for testing that I've seen before include "Examining" , "stressful" , "tiresome" , "of a difficult nature" , "... conducting exam" .)