I don’t think that is possible without a plugin. The requirements for TL1 are all based on reading
| activity | default | setting |
|---|---|---|
| Read posts | 30 | tl1 requires read posts |
| Visit topics | 5 | tl1 requires topics entered |
| Total reading time | 10 | tl1 requires time spent mins |
Maybe you want to keep the “see” permission for “everyone”, otherwise the category cannot be seen by visitors and crawlers.
You can use Administrative Bulk Operations to change the permissions of many categories at the same time