Integration by parts — when does it actually help?

Heuristic: "LIATE". Pick u from Log, Inverse trig, Algebraic, Trig, Exp — in that order. If the algebraic part gets simpler when you differentiate, IBP probably works.

Add to LIATE: try a u-substitution FIRST. If u-sub works, IBP is almost always slower. IBP shines when one factor (u) becomes simpler after differentiation while the other (dv) is easy to integrate.