The French examination is most recent (6)
I believe the answer is:
latest
'most recent' is the definition.
('late' can be similar in meaning to 'recent')
'the french examination' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'la' (one of the French words for 'the').
'examination' becomes 'test' (synonyms).
'la'+'test'='LATEST'
'is' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for latest that I've seen before include "Most recent report" , "delayed more than all others" , "State-of-the-art" , "Most up to the minute" , "Most recent, hot off the press" .)