I know in order to get better I need to practice practice practice, but...

[Zyxel]

spend time trying to identify what you're weak points are and refine them

for example: if you are comfortable with lvl 15 stream files but struggle with the pattern recognition needed to hit lvl 15 jumps, try to familiarize yourself with those patterns to develop that muscle memory by intentionally practicing.

additionally, having the right settings that you're comfortable with is a game changer and I highly recommend tinkering with a few parameters to find what sits right with you the most. It could be things such as:
- noteskin
- scroll speed
- receptor size
- framerate
- keybinds

there are other options too, but these ones I would consider the most.

But at the end of the day, nothing will help you improve more than playing a wide variety of files-- and a lot of them at that. The simple act to "play more" is unironically the best advice to improve at the game, so try looking for songs you can comfortably play. In your case, I'd recommend stuff between difficulty levels 1-12. Try not to move up from there until you feel confident in being able to play that difficulty range without having to mash certain patterns and rack up a bunch of "Boos". That actually segues perfectly into my next and final point:

I highly encourage you to make a very strong and conscious effort not to mash through songs to make up for not having the necessary reading skills to play through higher difficulties than what is comfortable. Try to keep your "Boo" count as low as possible, and you'll begin to improve much quicker. hope this helps! o7