-- starting from 10g, the push_subq hint must be specified in the subquery block -- you wish to push earlier (or with the @subq hint addressing) select e.* , d.dname from scott.emp e , scott.dept d where e.deptno = d.deptno and exists ( select /*+ no_unnest push_subq */ 1 from scott.bonus b where b.ename = e.ename and b.job = e.job ) /