I agree, I don't think it's a filler, because it was actually an answer for a kinematics/equilibrium constants question on AAMC 7 in the PS section. The one where they gave you equilibrium constants, and asked about the rate of the reaction.
yeah i think its pretty commonly used to test that you know certain things arent correlated... like reaction rates and thermodynamics... and stuff like if you can tell the spontaneity of a rxn based on enthalpy of the rxn.