Another newbie worth a DUPR question

I've been playing pickleball for 4.5 months. I've taken some classes and play recreationally & socially. I've played in a couple of beginners rec tournaments which were just for fun (not DUPR rated or reported).

I don't have any plans to play in serious tournaments anytime soon, but as a newer player I was kind of curious about where I stack up. So when the DUPR coach app offered me a free assessment I decided why not? I uploaded a clip of me playing and the AI or coach or whoever rates these things came back with a rating of 3.5.

I am absolutely not a 3.5. I'd have put myself somewhere closer to a 2.6 based on two people I know who played in an actual tournament and got rated 2.6 from it. I'm about the same, maybe marginally better, than one of them and not as good as the other.

I was thinking of going to a DUPR night at my local pickleball club but now I'm wondering: do I have to play in the 3.5 level? Am I just going to have to lose a bunch of games at that level to get a correct DUPR? Or can I play at the 2.5 level and have it work itself out? They also have a court for unrated players, which was what I was planning to play on before doing this assessment. I guess I'm not really sure how the assessed ratings work in the real world.