Although I agree that answering questions in certain threads will give you higher possibility to get merit but META is not the place to do this, most of threads there are no suited for Newbies. But one can find there inspiration and threads where merits is given.
Most of threads that are not suitable for everyone is if they don't know what the topic is.
Don't just post to the topics that you don't have something to add and make sure if you are replying, your post are going to add value to the conversation. Post the way you are posting and if someone appreciates and sees that your post is constructive, helpful and deserves to get merit, you'll get it.