How did I get a B1 for the Deutsche Welle German placement test?

So I took the German language placement test [http://einstufungstest.dw.de] from Deutsche Welle today for CEFR Level B1. It had 30 questions that covered listening comprehension, reading, and controlled writing sections. Answers were true/false and gap fill. You could listen to the spoken parts for a maximum of three times. Only speaking wasn't tested.

I scored 76% overall. Took about an hour and twelve minutes to finish the test. Passing mark is 60% overall, if you score 80% or more it recommends you go for B2. For me, it said, "If you would like to continue improving your German, you should enroll for a format that is now starting towards the B2 level."

What does this mean? What implications does it have for me?

Up to now I've never taken any formal classes in German. Everything I've done has been through self-study. I rely a lot on Internet resources although I do have hardcopies of books and some reference material. I've never been to any German-speaking country, I don't have a German girlfriend, and I have no exposure to actual use of the language. All I have is the Internet, YouTube, reference text and audio, plus whatever I can get from online media.

Not being an auditory learner, I only listen to stuff if I have to, and I did a lot of listening otherwise I wouldn't understand the spoken language. Listening comprehension in any language is one of my weakest points and I really have to work very, very hard to stay "alive". Speaking also, because I'm a very quiet person by nature and don't talk unless I have to.

I'm more of a visual learner - I have to see the written text to understand and remember better. That's why I'm more towards reading a lot. Reading has been one of my hobbies since young, specifically in English. So I use my strength in this area to improve my German through reading as much as I can. I choose topics of interest which are the same things I'd read in English, except hardcore technical or classical literature. Normally I don't read entertainment or celebrity stuff in English but I do so in German.

Let's see what I've done to come this far. What worked for me, and what I could have done better?

I got hold of a wordlist with about 2400 German words (the DTZ = Deutsch-Test für Zuwanderer.) [http://www.goethe.de/lhr/pro/daz/dfz/dtz_Wortliste.pdf] Available for public use, it's aimed at integration courses for immigrants to Germany and its level is around A2-B1. Every word has several example sentences in simple German to show its meaning in context. And this book is entirely in German - 100% Deutsch. No English or any other language at all.

So what I did was, I copied out every sentence by hand. Yes. I handwrote them all. About 10,000 sentences. Filled in two A4-size exercise books in two or three weeks, I think. At first I wrote English translations in the wordlist printout. As I reached the halfway point, I realised I didn't have to write English words anymore because the repeated exposure had gotten the German words into my mind. I wore out a couple of ballpoint pens in the process. Discovered through trial and error that it's well worth spending a few extra dollars on pens that are comfortable to hold and have better quality ink.

I went to Memrise and found two wordlists:

http://www.memrise.com/course/44392/zertifikat-deutsch-wortliste/
Zertifikat Deutsch Wortliste
The official word list from the Zertifikat Deutsch B1 exam. (About 2400 words)

http://www.memrise.com/course/920/5000-german-words-top-87/
5000 German Words (top 87%)

Then I used the Goldlist Method to learn them.
Summary explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixxq8moh4pg
Detailed explanation: http://berrjod.no/goldlist/
Explanation from the originator: https://huliganov.tv/goldlist-eu/

Luckily I had bought several 200-page A4-size exercise books from Popular bookstore with 35 lines per page for Goldlisting the German vocabulary. I did this intensively over a period of three months from January to March 2016. Yeah, I probably wrote too many words in some days, but I feel it's better for me to cram whenever I can because when I get busy with things later I won't have time.

I opened up the grammar book from Teach Yourself: "German Grammar You Really Need to know" by Jenny Russ. I copied out by hand the "Ten things to remember" for every chapter in the book, and also example sentences, texts, and dialogues into my pocketbook which contains all my German language learning notes compiled from various sources.

I went to https://www.youtube.com/user/smartergerman on YouTube and watched all the videos in Michael Schmitz' A1-B1 German Grammar Course. Highly recommended! Michael has the ability to explain the complexities of German grammar in an easy-to-understand way. He also introduces memory techniques to remember those key concepts and knows what's important at which level.  I took down notes for every video and recopied the notes by hand into another exercise book.

I went to About.com and checked out their articles on learning German.
http://german.about.com/

I checked out http://germanforenglishspeakers.com/ for their grammar explanations.

I also checked out http://www.thegermanprofessor.com/ for its presentation of important areas such as the top 500 German words and top 100 German verbs.

I looked up the preview pages of Glossika's German Fluency 1, 2, and 3 and hand-copied whatever sentences they had in the preview. If you buy their package, you have 3000 sentences in audio and text format to listen and refer to.

I transcribed several Helene Fischer interviews sourced from YouTube. Helene has a very beautiful voice, both in speaking and singing, and I believe it's a good model for language learners in terms of accent, intonation and refined presentation.

I made use of Google Translate, German Wiktionary, online verb conjugators, and good old hardcopy dictionaries.

I read the tabloid newspaper Bild [www.bild.de] every day on my mobile phone. At least a few German news articles a day to keep my reading skills alive.

I went to YouTube and searched for Helene Fischer, Carolin Kebekus, Luke Mockridge, and other celebrities. Songs, interviews, comedies. Documentaries like Die Sendung mit der Maus. Dramas like Tatort, Hilf mir - jung, pleite, verzweifelt!, Das Traumschiff ...

If the people talk too fast I either use Audacity to slow down the speed or just rewind and playback until I get that part right. Else I turn on the subtitles in German if available.

Deutsche Welle [www.dw.de] has a lot of good stuff in their Video-Thema but I haven't gotten to that yet. I've yet to check out talk shows.

I might have missed out some websites or things I did, but this is what I can remember off the cuff for now.

What should I do now?

It would be good to look at the B2 and C1 levels. I've sought out advice on how to study for the B2 and C1 levels respectively, and some people on the Internet have given very helpful information on what to expect and how to study for them.

I would also need to find someone to speak with, otherwise my speaking will never improve. In the meantime I'll just have to do much more active, intensive listening and transcription exercises. Reading is no problem for me so I'll continue doing what I've been doing.

Anni Perka - Bitte melde dich lyrics & video

Anni Perka - Bitte melde dich (offizielles Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS-15hSpp2E
[Length: 3:44]

[I couldn't find the lyrics anywhere so I listened to the music video a couple of times and typed out the song text. It should be 90% accurate, but I'm sure I missed out something somewhere. Let me know about any mistakes and I'll correct them. Thanks.]

Ich hatte niemals gedacht das wieso was passiert
Das mein koolest Herz die verstandt und die kommt verliert
Ich weiß nicht vorhin das so führt
Große Gefühl taeg gefällt ist iniert
Was heiterem hier mö verliebt
Verrückt nach dir

Ab dich hat zu Augen verlor in der Hitze der Rat
Der Wai ja die ich alles der schönes gedacht
Der heb und mittags und gelacht
Die Feuer gespielt und ist angefahrt
Von Flugel in mir nach gelacht
Zusammen aufgewacht

Bitte melde dich
Hörst du mich
Wo bist du
Ich suche dich
Bitte melde dich
Melde dich bei mir

Bitte melde dich
Hörst du mich
Wo bist du
Ich suche dich
Bitte melde dich
Melde dich bei mir

Ich für dich wiedersehen und immer verliert

Ein Stunde lang ohne ein dir ich die Strasse gehört
Mit Tränen in Augen verlor ganz allein nur verführt
Suche nicht und ein Million
Ich find nie ich nur allein mit du dir
Mein Herz hat es polymution 
Die hypnotisiert 

Bitte melde dich
Hörst du mich
Wo bist du
Ich suche dich
Bitte melde dich
Melde dich bei mir

Bitte melde dich
Hörst du mich
Wo bist du
Ich suche dich
Bitte melde dich
Melde dich bei mir

Ich für dich wiedersehen und immer verliert

Bitte melde dich
Ruf mich an
Damit ich wieder schlafen kann
Bitte melde dich
Melde dich bei mir

Bitte melde dich
Hörst du mich
Wo bist du
Ich suche dich
Bitte melde dich
Melde dich bei mir

Ich für dich wiedersehen und immer verliert