I have a college degree; in fact, I have three. So when I went to use a home pregnancy test, even I had to read and reread the instructions to make sure I did it correctly. And here's my beef--why is is called a test? That makes it even more intimidating!

The first intimidating part is picking one at the store. There are so many now. The key difference between them boils down to sensitivity. They are all looking for the same thing, the hormone HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, which is produced by the developing embryo. Some can measure as low as 15 mIu, which means you can use it sooner. A friend of mine did her own experiment with the kits, and she found no difference between the expensive ones versus the cheap ones at each hormone level.

If you want to test really early, then you need the highest sensitivity kit. Look for the 15-25 mIu kits. Bear in mind that you still might get a negative result even if you are pregnant because the hormone levels might not have reached the measurable point yet.

Some kits come as sticks that you use in mid-stream urination, while others are dipsticks that you use in a cup of collected urine. Actually, if you don't want to hold a stick under you while you urinate, you can collect urine in a cup and test that way with both types, but typically, the sticks are more expensive. If that's how you're going to use it, save a few bucks and buy the dipstick kind.

Another difference is how you read them. Some show two lines if you're pregnant, others show a "+" sign, others actually say "pregnant." Many a woman has spent a good hour scrutinizing those lines, which is why companies developed other methods of interpreting the result. However, any test used too early can still give you a false negative result.

Here, then, are the key things to consider: how early you are testing, how you like to test, what display would be easiest for you, and cost. Most of the packages now come with more than one test. If you want to test early, I recommend that you get a package with two or more tests and get the most sensitive kind. If you get a negative result, test again in three days. If it's positive, it's probably correct so you can stop testing!