1. What is the best way to deal with word problems?

There are several ways but a good general method that works for many word problems is to work out what is being found and assign a variable to it.
i.e Let what is being found be x.
Then write an equation using x from the numbers given in the question.
Then solve the equation to find the value of x.

2. How many solutions do linear equations usually have?

Linear equations usually have ONE solution.

Some such as x + 1 = x have no solutions.

Some have an infinite number of solutions such as 2(2x + 1) = 4x + 2

3. What is the best way to deal with an equation with fractions?

There are several ways but a good general method that works for most equations is to multiply each term in the equation by the common denominator. (This will eliminate all of the fractions.)