And mean while don't always have it in mind that you must get merit in each we quality post. Just continue posting quality and you will receive merits when you don't expect.
The moment one conceives in his mind that any post that they make must earn them merit, that's the moment they start failing. Even the most reputable members in the forum and the ones who also rank 1st to 10th don't earn merit in each of their posts.
One thing that I have come to realise is that, most times, the post that we make and the contribution that we have offered in the form of providing help, answers, and any other form of problem that we might have helped a member solve or the forum in general might not even earn that merit, which he was convinced in his mind that he was going to earn by making that post. Sometimes the merit comes when we least expect it, and most times it comes as one expected it, but always trying to make a post just to earn merit is what usually leads many people to plagiarism and using other tools in order to make their post stand out, which also don't help but rather lands them into trouble.
The best way is just to do what you can and remove the mindset that earning merit is hard in the forum or having the feeling that newbies are not being given merit, as such a mindset can discourage someone from trying harder. Being original is one thing I have seen help a lot of us grow in this forum.