How should I approach questions asking me to assess multiple turning points?

These questions are quite common/omnipresent on the OCR Thematic History Paper, normally for around 25 marks. There are two ways these questions are usually approached with many key similarities.
a) the 'event by event' method; in this method, you pick three (four if you have the time) factors to explore. These should cover a wide range of the period (the exam board wants 90% coverage as its guideline). From here, you analyse the effects of these events to the factor stated in the question. So, for instance, if the question is asking "what was the biggest turning point in Russian Government 1855-1964" you would talk about three factors (say, Alexander II's Great Reforms, Khrushchev's De-Stalinisation and one of the 1905, February 1917 or October 1917 Revolutions). Notice the wide temporal range covered here spanning from the first ruler to the last. Then you would explain in your paragraph why each had an effect and how it changed. Essentially, what was it like before and how was it different after. Good reference points are to look at the structure, ideology and repressive apparatus of Government systems. Crucially, a hierarchy of judgment is needed in each paragraph. This should sum up why you think whatever event is most important and why. Good reference points here are scale, permanence and profundity.
b)- the 'factor by factor' method; this method is slightly harder and more confusing. Instead of picking events and looking at which is the most important in relation to factors, you pick factors and look at which is most important for each event. So for the question about change in Government nature, your factors would no longer be events such as the Revolutions, Reforms or De-Stalinisation but they would be Government Structure, Government ideology and Repressive Apparatus. In each of these paragraphs, you would then find three factors which changed them. You can and should use different factors for each paragraph- so for Ideology I would talk about 1905's Revolution and both the October and February Revolution, whilst for Repressive Apparatus I would talk about Alexander III's repression, Stalin's purges and Khrushchev's relaxation. For Structure, Alexander II's Zemstva should be covered with your main factor (I would suggest the October Revolution) and one other being talked about. The benefits of this method is that it almost guarantees you to hit 90% of the time covered. The downsides are the paragraphs can be a bit longer and the comparisons slightly superficial, although as long as you justify your comparison with reference to permanence, profundity and scale then that is negated.
For either method some tips are useful; write the initials of the rulers (AII, AIII, NII, PG, L, S, K in this case) on the side, and tick off when you have used them- this helps make sure you cover most of the period. Also remember to rank your events; the question asks 'what' is most important, so tell them what is and why it is. Extra marks for saying why something is below the most important but still important. End each paragraph with a mini-judgment. Finally, try to make your first sentence and your last sentence both similar to each other and to the question; so if the question is the one above about government nature, your first sentence might be "the greatest turning point in the nature of Russian Government during the period 1855-1964 was the October Revolution because" and your last could be "therefore, it is clear that the greatest turning point in the nature of Russian Government during the period 1855-1964 was the October Revolution". In essence, really spell it out for the examiners (as every teacher says, examiners are lonely creatures marking papers all night and easily confused- so give them an easy answer at the start and at the end)!