• Stay at or under speed 5 ("Map Route" on the Speed menu) while exploring unless speed is a life-or-death issue. Getting lost usually wastes more time than the haste gains.
• The entrance to a level is always at the upper-left corner of the map; that's the northwest corner. The exit is always at the southeast (lower-right) corner. The connection between the exit of one level and the entrance to the next is very mystical.
• To figure out which way to go at an intersection, look at your map, and think like a sports-car rally navigator. They say things like "left second opp", which means "turn left at your second opportunity". (An "opp" is an opportunity to turn, not a forced turn in a winding corridor.) On the map you will be able to see that in the direction you want to go there is (for example) an immediate left opp, followed by a short section of straight corridor, followed by a forced right turn. Now put away the map and look at your view in the Pyramid of RA window. Turn in place until you can see a stretch of corridor with an immediate left opp, followed by a short section of straight corridor, followed by a forced right turn. That's the way you want to go!
• The same trick in reverse can tell you which way you're facing. Look down the corridor and describe what you see: "Right opp, right and left opp, long cul-de-sac". Then look at the map. The circle shows where you are; one of the four directions around the circle should match the description you just mumbled to yourself. That's which way you're facing.
• If your map is destroyed, it's usually worthwhile to try to return to the entrance and start a new map. Unfortunately, this is most important on the lower, larger levels, where it is also most difficult.