Not knowing what plans you are currently getting makes it next to impossible to guess what hints would be required. Please add the output from explain plan for <your query>; select * from table(dbms_xplan.display(format=>'outline')); On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 1:28 PM, Ethan Post <post.ethan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > The first two queries run fast enough. However, when they are joined (third > query below) on 4 columns which is a solid one to one join it runs really > slow. I need to force Oracle to resolve each section first and then do the > join. Which hint should I be focusing on, I have tried quite a few and I am > not having success. -- Regards, Greg Rahn http://structureddata.org -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l