How should I read a CFA hypothesis testing question without getting lost in the formulas?

Read it as a decision problem. First identify the null hypothesis, then identify the alternative hypothesis, because the alternative tells you whether the test is one-tailed or two-tailed. After that, use the p-value or critical value to decide whether the sample evidence is extreme enough to reject the null.

The calculation matters, but the interpretation matters more. If the p-value is less than or equal to alpha, reject the null. If the p-value is greater than alpha, fail to reject the null. Do not say that you proved the null true. You only concluded that the evidence was not strong enough to reject it at the chosen significance level.