It would seem, if you have to wait a month anyway, that you could wait and decide whether to go when they call you with an opening. The Number of people who do not go to an appointment more than once or twice is quite high.

I think the scale thing is a bit silly really. What is one person's 3 will be another person's 9. I usually start by explaining what I consider a 1 versus a 10.
(For example for me a 1 is a simple broken bone etc and a ten is like having an electric transformer with 10000 volts fall upon and crush you while electrocuting you sort of thing).