vapilot2004 - well said. The successful evacuation of the Air France A340-300 overrun in Toronto last August proved that these tests are important no matter what the cynics say; I remember reading that all PAX and crew evacuated the (full) aircraft within the required 90 seconds using only 3 out of 8 exits (1 exit was rejected by the Cabin Crew as unusable, but some PAX vacated through it anyway) - when the tests require HALF the available exits. In other words, the real emergency evacuation proved more successful than the simulation!
Also, the extras and Cabin Crew will not know beforehand which of the A380's exits will be unserviceable. That sounds realistic enough.
Cheers
