Any quick tips for making Parallel Questions not suck so much?

Yes! Here's the basic idea:

I start by describing the argument, trying to take all of the content out of my description.

My description will sound something like this: "That goal cannot be the real reason the person took that action, because there's a better way to reach that goal." (this was my description of PT 37 Sec4 Q 14, if you're keeping score at home).

Then, I skim over answer choices, ignoring those that don't seem to match my description, and spending any analysis time looking at any answer that does match that description.

I'm kind of looking for the forest more than looking at particular trees. This bird's-eye-view strategy takes time to perfect, but it makes you fast when you get good at it.

To test this approach, see if that description doesn't make short work of the example question referenced above.