Scholastic hurdles (5)
I believe the answer is:
exams
'scholastic hurdles' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
This is all the clue.
(Other definitions for exams that I've seen before include "finals?" , "Set of exercises evaluating knowledge (abbr)" , "GCSE, A-level, etc" , "Tests for students" , "Tests, in short" .)