Forum:Help a newb

So, here's my LOL experience to date (one month) or so. I got invited by some friends to play. We teamed up and played a half dozen games against bots...won some/lost some/had fun. I started playing my own bot matches and bought a champion or two. I started looking up individual champion builds and guides. Around level 6, I started solo queueing. Did really well...won most of the matches...always had high kill/death ratios. Around level 10, games went from easy (against other newbs) to very hard and very ridiculey. Like, I went from very unorganized newb play to tournament play where I was seemingly the only one who didn't know WTF they were doing or why they were getting yelled at constantly (didn't pick the right champ, didn't perform to right role, didn't go to the right spot, 2 ADC!?!?!). What happened? Is the learning curve really this steep? Is there a way to short-circuit this. Is there a way to get matched up against other level 10 players (rather than smurfs)?

I like the game, but right now I feel like I'm drowning in the deep end after what started as an enjoyable experience. Any help or guidance is appreciated.