Let's just count how many cube faces are exposed..
8 on the front, 8 on the back
3 on the left side, 3 on the right side
3 on the top, 3 on the bottom
4 in the middle
That is a total of 8 + 8 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 4 = 32 exposed cube faces.
Each cube face has an area of 3 cm * 3 cm = 9 cm2
So.. the total surface area of this shape = 32 * 9 = 288 cm2
It's a 3 x 3 x 1 box SA minus 2 faces PLUS 4 faces.