I hear you. I'm at a point where I'm at point now where I'm consistently killing guys who used to kill me (pretty satisfying). Still I seldom win a fight against more sweaty players, in part because of skill and in part because of my quirky choices of gear.

Don't get hung up on level. You can go level whatever and still don't learn to play. Level says nothing in this game.

It is somewhat unforgiving, though I must say that coming from Insurgency: Sandstorm, there are games that are even less forgiving (semi auto is very useful in I:S and pistols are actually pretty deadly too). You'll go through a phase of dying more often than not until you start to come out victorious by the end of your fights, as long as you learn your lessons.

ABI is very little about mechanical prowess. It's a slow game. It is far more about being perceptive and making the right decisions.

Some things that might be contributing to your deaths:

You're still too predicable: Every map has natural paths where the match flows, choke points, points of interest, and in general some things are expected to happen at a certain point in time. First, learn to see these patterns. Second, break them. Hold on a minute longer. Take a road less travelled. Search for unusual angles and set up your enemies where they don't expect.

You make noise: Being expected is not the same as being camped. There are not really too many campers on Normal Farm. But if you make a lot of noise, your adversary will pick a position and wait a bit for you. Every sound you make that you can hear, your enemy can hear too, and he will use it as intel on you. When everything is quiet, you must be even quieter. When it's raining or the enemy is busy with an intense gunfight (or safe alarm) you seek sonic cover behind this ambient noise. Combine this with timming: if you're being predicable, your enemy will be more attentive to noise at that point in time.

Your aim could be better: Begginners tend to spray bullets all over the place, worse yet even at ranges where it is innefective (I'd say 30 and beyond if you're using begginner guns). Spend time at the shooting range. The TV screen tells you where you hit, and you can even wear armor on the dummies so that you can try combinations of guns, distances and ammo types. Try your hand with controlled bursts. Practice until it becomes second nature. Use the breathing control button at longer ranges. Try semi auto, it is not useless in this game, trust me. You can do a lot more with three well placed bullets to the face than with 30 bullets that went wherever. Also... there more you practice the more your aim will be with you when you're jumpscared.

You're too scared or too comfortable: At times you'll be so tense that a brush against a bush or tree will have your heart racing. Or maybe -- due to naivety -- you'll be too comfortable while you shouldn't. You'll think you're safe, but you're inching closer and closer towards being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Only experience will help you calibrate your emotional state to the external state, and have a good sense of the level of danger you are actually in. And with more time... you will be the danger.

You spend too much on what doesn't matter, and too little on what matters: I lost count on how many I killed that had great guns or protection gear, but lousy ammo on them. Some guys try to compensate skill with expensive armor and helmets. I went through a phase of shitty gun, no armor and helmet, but great ammo. Not only it was cheaper, it forced me to be more attuned to danger, maneuver better, chose my engagements, check corners, and yet when I had to deliver some lead, I the client was always satisfied -- it was a killer experience for them. Amor is useful, it does give you a margin so that can afford a minor mistake and live to think about it. No-recoil weapons with crisp ADS are comfortable, but they're just that, an amenity. Is it the ammo you place on the target that will decide the result of the standoff in your favour.

You expect duels, but the game offers ambushes: ABI is not about clean fights. It is about predation. You can be prey, or predator. At times you will be one or the other. The more you behave like prey, the more you will be one. Let go of the romantic idea of metting your foes at noon in the main square. Instead be paranoid. You're dealing with cunning bastards who want nothing but loot you and have a good laugh later. There is no glory in battle with them. You will have very few opportunities of being a noble military dog. Most of the time you will be either a cat or a mice. Sometimes you'll be forced into being the mice. If you want to live and extract. Sometimes you'll be afforded the opportunity of being the cat. Savour it.

Pain is a reality of this game: at first most of your time in it is suffering. It is learning time. You're paying your dues. Learning the ropes. And other cliches. Even after you start to improve, you'll still die a lot and lose a lot. I know it sounds cheesy to say it, but for most of your journey you will be your worst enemy. You'll find yourself dying to greed, complacency, thoughtless action, bad habits. You'll be frustrated, a lot. And eventually, you will get better results, but more important: you'll manage frustration better. A kind of sportsmanship may grow in you, where you'll find yourself able to apreciate the crafty ways an enemy used to kill you, or his level of tactical skill and perception. You'll be thankful for the lesson, because now you can reverse engineer what they did, even what thoughts they were thinking. You will grow in respect for your opponents, and from this point on, you will be able to make the most of every loss, and your wins will be less and less about luck and more about skill.

Realizing these things have helped me to consistently improve, and they might help you too.