So I'm sure I understand

[JustChecking]

After reading the lie behind the detector I just want to make sure i have the jist of this all correct. If I want to "pass" the polygraph "test" i just need to react more to the irrelevant and "control" questions than to the relevant ones. So I need to employ the rhythmic breathing through the whole thing and then use the biting of the tongue and the mental math stuff when asked an irrelevant/control question and not when asked the relevant questions. Is that about right in a nutshell?

[George W. Maschke]

It's almost right except for one major mistake. You conflate irrelevant and "control" questions. Irrelevant questions are not scored, and it is a mistake to willfully produce reactions to them. If a polygrapher sees consistently strong reactions to questions such as "Are the lights on in this room?" she may infer countermeasure use.

Note also that a common counter-countermeasure approach adopted by some polygraph operators is to introduce the irrelevant questions as "control" or "comparison" questions during the pre-test phase in an endeavor to misdirect examinees who may be contemplating the use of polygraph countermeasures.

[JustChecking]

I'm well aware of what they call control questions and what actually are. I'm so glad i read that book because I am still really nervous about having to do this but i HAVE to and it seems like no one I know that has to do it as well really knows anything about it. They know that it's not really any better than random chance but that's about it.
Thank you for the help; countermeasures on the control ones, nothing on the irrelevant ones and nothing on the relevant ones. Got it. Thank you again.