Usually if you can figure out the type of vulnerability you are going after, you can search for it and then use the first principles of that bug type and apply it to the current level.

The first few levels are just to get you used to thinking in machine code, reading and thinking in hex, and used to reversing. They are a little tougher for some, depending on your background.

That's good to know! My background is in CS, so I've done a bit of computer architecture and assembly(been quite awhile though). Very new to reversing; I've tried out Lena's tutorials and decided to give this a shot instead. I'll keep that in mind :)