My gear score at the moment is 198. When I enter the darkzone I get put in the 201+ bracket. Has anyone else experienced this?

I thought perhaps I'd been bumped up because I've got higher level gear in my stash. On checking I found that's not the case. I've got some set items in there from sets I'm not using. They're all equal or lower gear score than the pieces I'm currently using.

Any suggestions on how to get placed into the appropriate bracket? I'm getting creamed in PvP.

There is apparently a secret score that is not visible that decides Dark Zone placement.

@logaan: Dark Zone placement is based on your Gear Score minus your worst 2 Weapons. So if you have 1 204 Weapon, all of your Weapons count as 204 so while your in game score is 198 it may be caused by lower than 204 Special and Pistol. Also, I was easily able to survive in 201+ inside a group below 200. Don't go in the DZ at 201+ solo, period. Also, be more mindful of your perk combinations than your Gear Score, it honestly matters more. Don't get rid of a 182 set of Savage Gloves with 36% Crit Damage, 6.5% Crit Chance, and your preferred weapon like SMG's just because you got a badly rolled 240 set pair of gloves. That 13.5% Crit Chance out of cover is way more powerful to you than the extra 75 Stamina you get or whatever. Another thing to keep in mind is the most important stat right now is Armor Mitigation, get that to 75% or as close to it as you can as soon as possible. It will make your life infinitely better. Until you hit it, look for a Robust Chest and stay in cover as much as possible. Consider using Smart Cover as well as your skill as it will make you much beefier and able to take a lot more damage. In DZ 201+ Armor Mitigation and to an extent Exotic Mitigation are king since they allow you to tank so much damage from other players and NPC's.

The game also counts any 204/214/240 gear you have in your inventory and stash. I created a alt character just for storage. So if i wanna farm the under the 201+ bracket, i unload everything from my inventory and stash on to him and equip a couple lower gear score items. That will put you in the lower bracket. I have to farm the lower 160 DZ bracket since everyone i know has gave up on The Division and soloing the 201+ DZ bracket is not gonna happen with my current gear setup.