You are no doubt keenly aware that there is a little less than a month until the October LSAT.

If the thought strikes fear into your heart, you’re certainly not alone. And that’s okay – you’re not supposed to feel ready at this point, or even close to ready. The last month is when things should start coming together for you, so although you’ve still got plenty of work to do, there is no cause for concern at this point.

In related news, September 13 (one week from today) is the last day to withdraw from the October LSAT and receive a refund. This is important for two different groups of people:

As we discussed last week, anyone who is unhappy with his or her October LSAT testing center should be primed and ready to go on the 13th. People will withdraw from the October LSAT on the 13th, and the deadline to switch LSAT testing centers is the 15th. That leaves a two-day window for you to fill those newly vacant seats in your preferred October LSAT testing center.

Of course, the 13th is also an important date for those who are actually considering withdrawing from the October LSAT. Keep in mind that although you must withdraw before the 13th to receive a refund, you can also withdraw (refund-less) any time before11:59 pm on October 4, and law schools will never know that you had even signed up for the test. So this is far from your last opportunity to back out.

In that case, who should be considering withdrawing before the 13th? Here’s the tricky part: as I mentioned earlier, almost no one feels ready for the LSAT at this point. In fact, it’s almost impossible to know exactly how the rest of your LSAT preparation will go. And it would be a real bummer to withdraw from the October LSAT only to realize, come October 5, that you feel ready after all but can’t take the test.

So in general, if you’re not sure whether you’ll be ready by October, it’s better to wait to decide whether to withdraw until closer to the LSAT test date. Yes, that means you’ll lose your registration fee, but that’s better than making a rash decision now. On the other hand, if you know that you won’t be ready (because, for instance, you won’t have any time to study from now until October) or if you’ve changed your mind about law school, then withdrawing before the 13th would be a good idea.

For most people, though, the best course of action will be to proceed as though you’ll be taking the test in October. Scary? Probably a little bit. Doable? Absolutely.