1. Read question carefully.
Absolutely, looking through the comments that markers make on questions, a fair bit of them not that people failed to understand/address the question.
2. Understand, make mental simulation of the situation, draw diagrams.
it is always great to do this, if u draw a diagram correctly, it shows ur understanding and thinking which is what they r looking for. They r not always necessary, and if u don't understand one part of a question and r running out of time, try to bs a few points/working out to show some thinking or understanding.
3. Identify which equations or data are relevant, which properties, models I can use.
This is a good approach but not always required, some questions will be simple explain questions which require precise and detailed descriptions. Beyond that, sometimes it is as simple as taking the tan of 2 components or some simple transposing. They will generally give u any formulas, so u can automatically see which one u need. Just be carful u use the equation correctly. The main property u will use is conservation of energy, momentum etc.
4. Identify what changes, and how it changes.
This one is not actually that important if u r looking for a step by step guide. Sometimes this is def the way to go, but for some questions it will directly tell u that like the kinetic energy changes by this, so evaluate the new momentum after a collision.
5. Express everything using equations and solve for relevant variable.
For the solving questions, they do them in a very specific order. DO NOT use any numbers initially, do all ur working out with the formula first, then sub values in. INCLUDE UNITS, if it is a number answer, units r the difference between right and wrong. But yeah solving for some value is usually the answer, but identifying it is sometimes a challenge. Don't be afraid to go to ur teacher or post here for help, the math/solutions can be pretty confusing.
Some questions I have seen which I feel perfectly show the type of questions are:
2012 question 11 and 14:
2016 question 11
2017 question 14
u need to draw diagrams, make estimations, graph, think carefully about solutions etc. These are not easy, honestly maybe a bit harder than the average question but certainly doable and personally a perfect example of the type of thinking required.