The SQL below is simple since dual is a one row table. The plan is as exected. However, I would expect the logical and physical blocks read to be 2 at the most, and the elapsed time to be less than a second. Twenty minutes is obscure. Any one know how or if this can be possible? It came straight out of a production system: select to_char(sysdate,'YYYY/MM/DD HH24:MI:SS') Process_End_Time from dual call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows ------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- Parse 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0 Execute 2 1271.80 1318.39 475439 21600279 2563509 1 Fetch 2 0.00 0.00 0 3 0 1 ------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- total 5 1271.80 1318.39 475439 21600282 2563509 2 Misses in library cache during parse: 0 Optimizer goal: CHOOSE Parsing user id: 111 () Rows Execution Plan ------- --------------------------------------------------- 0 SELECT STATEMENT GOAL: CHOOSE 0 TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'DUAL'