Old hands grasping answer in language exam? (4)
I believe the answer is:
oral
'language exam?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'old hands grasping answer' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'hands' becomes 'rl' (abbreviations for left and right).
'grasping' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are held or grasped).
'answer' becomes 'a' (abbreviation eg in Q and A).
'rl' placed around 'a' is 'ral'.
'o'+'ral'='ORAL'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for oral that I've seen before include "Mouth-related" , "Spoken test" , "Exam using speech" , "Viva voce" , "Relating to the mouth - exam" .)