We strongly advise all of our LSAT students to treat every section of the exam as if it is being scored. Just as importantly, it is a waste of time and effort to try to figure out the identity of the experimental section. LSAC is aware that some test-takers will try to do this, and they have taken countermeasures in order to maximize the section's developmental value. The purpose of the experimental section is to scrutinize the effectiveness of questions for future versions of the LSAT, and this objective is undermined if the trial questions are easily seen as such.
Optimal standardized test development and maximum assessment value cannot be attained without experimentation, and the LSAT is not the only widely used to test to feature mandatory experimental content. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE), for example, also has an unidentified and unscored experimental section that could cover either of the examination's major content areas. The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) does not have any experimental sections, but there are experimental, unscored questions included in both the verbal and quantitative sections. In short, LSAT test-takers are not alone; every student who sits for one or more of these three major graduate-level tests will be required to complete experimental exercises.