Whale question in exam right at the start (7)
I believe the answer is:
rorqual
'whale' is the definition.
(rorqual is a kind of whale)
'question in exam right at the start' is the wordplay.
'question' becomes 'qu' (abbreviation).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'exam' becomes 'oral' (spoken academic test).
'right' becomes 'r' (common abbreviation).
'at the start' says to put letters next to each other.
'qu' going into 'oral' is 'orqual'.
'orqual' after 'r' is 'RORQUAL'.
(Other definitions for rorqual that I've seen before include "Great swimmer" , "Type of whale" , "Whale with dorsal fin" , "Huge beast" , "Large baleen whale" .)