Hi Wolfgang, Don, >Since the partition is pre-created it get its statistics gathered >(all zero rows) and therefore dynamic sampling at level 2 (all tables >without statistics) won't get called. This is of course fine. I understand the statistics gathering policy in a different way. >> The partition is created a few days before it will first be loaded into. >> We have a recurring problem when, after the partition is loaded into >> (2-3 million records per load), .. >>After I gather stats >>on the table (takes 2.5 hours) the queries then use the PK as desired. i.e the partition is created, loaded but not analyzed. In that case I thing the dynamic sampling (on level 2) can produce some misleading partition statistics due to the small sample size. >I've been seeding partition statistics without problems. >Usually I clone them from an existing partition - replacing the >low/high values of the partitioning column(s). good idea! cloning the partition statistics should bridge the time intervall until the real partition statistics are gathered. regards, Jaromir -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l