Some things that helped me were:
1. If there is a constraint on one of the choices, do it first even if you wouldn't actually make that choice first in the actual activity. For instance, if you have to pick 3 unique numbers, and the last one must be odd, then start with the final choice of the odd number.
2. An example of when you must multiply and subtract: How many ways can you arrange objects a,b,c,d, and e if c and d can't be next to each other. First ignore the constraint and just figure out the number of ways they can be arranged. Now consider c and d as "one" thing and how many ways can you arrange a, b, cd, and e? This is how many possibilities that c and d are arranged next to each other with c on the left, and d on the right. Now multiply this number by 2, because you have to consider d on the left and c on the right. Now subtract this from the original number you got at the beginning.
3. An example when you divide: If you pick from a group of 11 and choose 4, how many groups of 4 can be chosen when order doesn't matter? Start with 11! in the numerator. Since order doesn't matter, the group of 4 is not distinguishable and neither is the group of 7 that you didn't pick. Therefore, you must divide out 4! and 7!.
The more problems you work, you can start to recognize these patterns.