In the US, there are formal definitions of "competitive skater" vs. "recreational skater." A competitive skater is training and competing with the goal of pursuing the Qualifying competitions. Anyone else is a recreational skater.
For younger skaters, they have the option of competing in the Basic Skills/Test Track events throughout the year. Regardless of how serious they take their skating or how many competitions they do, they are defined as recreational.
The Ice Skating Institute (ISI) has only recreational skaters - it's their forte'.
Basic Skills competitions have some restrictions:
. Skaters up through Basic 8 cannot have passed any "official" tests, including Moves.
. Skaters in Freeskate 1-6 can compete in those level if they haven't taken any official Free Skate tests, but they can have passed Moves tests.
. Skaters in the Test Track and lower Well-Balanced events cannot have passed any official Free Skate tests.
. The lowest-level events' restrictions are worded differently, which might mean no Moves tests either. I'm not certain.
In the ISI, testing is encouraged as soon as you're ready, the USFSA holds skaters back until their skills are at least on par with the next-higher test level, but moreoften, it's two levels up. That's because the competition requirements are higher than the tests.
An adult pre-bronze skater at a competition last year won with a program that included a camel-sit-change-sit-scratch spin. The test only requires a two-foot and a one-foot spin. Most of the other skaters only did scratch spins, one did a sit spin. This woman took and passed the PBF test late last year, along with the Pre-Bronze and Bronze Moves at the same time. I guess she needed the confidence booster of winning the Pre-Bronze event since she could have skated in Bronze against stronger competitors, but she might not have been on top of the podium.
Personally, I think anyone who trains regularly and competes more than twice a season should be considered "competitive." But that's just my opinion, it's not the real definition.
As far as I'm concerned, it's irrelevant when it comes to testing. Why shouldn't a skater test even if they have no interest in competing? Passing a test is a real achievement and a measure of progress.
As long as they don't change their minds about competition later, it's fine to test up. In fact, Synchro is one of the biggest encouragements of Moves testing. Skaters who've passed Moves tests do well on Synchro.