A method for detecting and/or quantitating a target nucleic acid in a sample by a real-time polymerase chain reaction comprising: (a) contacting nucleic acids in the sample with amplification reagents, the amplification reagents comprising: at least an enzyme comprising DNA polymerase activity; at least nucleoside triphosphate monomers or other nucleoside monomers; at least one forward primer specifically annealing to a portion of the target nucleic acid and at least one reverse primer specifically annealing to a portion of the target nucleic acid for generating at least one double-stranded amplicon that can directly be used as template in succeeding amplification steps of the real-time polymerase chain reaction; at least one non-extending helper oligonucleotide, wherein: (i) the non-extending helper oligonucleotide does not extend, and (ii) the non-extending helper oligonucleotide and at least one of the primers anneal to the same portion of the target nucleic acid; and (iii) the non-extending helper oligonucleotide at the 3'-end in addition comprises a modification consisting of a poly sequence between 4-12 nucleotides in length that does not anneal to the target nucleic acid, whereby the non-extending helper oligonucleotide improves the amplification efficiency of the amplification reaction; and at least one detectable probe specific for the amplicon; (b) incubating the nucleic acids with the amplification reagents for a period of time and under conditions sufficient for an amplification reaction to occur; and (c) detecting the amplicon with the at least one detectable probe. (a) contacting nucleic acids in the sample with amplification reagents, the amplification reagents comprising: at least an enzyme comprising DNA polymerase activity; at least nucleoside triphosphate monomers or other nucleoside monomers; at least one forward primer specifically annealing to a portion of the target nucleic acid and at least one reverse primer specifically annealing to a portion of the target nucleic acid for generating at least one double-stranded amplicon that can directly be used as template in succeeding amplification steps of the real-time polymerase chain reaction; at least one non-extending helper oligonucleotide, wherein: (i) the non-extending helper oligonucleotide does not extend, and (ii) the non-extending helper oligonucleotide and at least one of the primers anneal to the same portion of the target nucleic acid; and (iii) the non-extending helper oligonucleotide at the 3'-end in addition comprises a modification consisting of a poly sequence between 4-12 nucleotides in length that does not anneal to the target nucleic acid, whereby the non-extending helper oligonucleotide improves the amplification efficiency of the amplification reaction; and at least one detectable probe specific for the amplicon; at least an enzyme comprising DNA polymerase activity; at least nucleoside triphosphate monomers or other nucleoside monomers; at least one forward primer specifically annealing to a portion of the target nucleic acid and at least one reverse primer specifically annealing to a portion of the target nucleic acid for generating at least one double-stranded amplicon that can directly be used as template in succeeding amplification steps of the real-time polymerase chain reaction; at least one non-extending helper oligonucleotide, wherein: (i) the non-extending helper oligonucleotide does not extend, and (ii) the non-extending helper oligonucleotide and at least one of the primers anneal to the same portion of the target nucleic acid; and (iii) the non-extending helper oligonucleotide at the 3'-end in addition comprises a modification consisting of a poly sequence between 4-12 nucleotides in length that does not anneal to the target nucleic acid, whereby the non-extending helper oligonucleotide improves the amplification efficiency of the amplification reaction; and at least one detectable probe specific for the amplicon; (b) incubating the nucleic acids with the amplification reagents for a period of time and under conditions sufficient for an amplification reaction to occur; and (c) detecting the amplicon with the at least one detectable probe.