Hi,
   Can anyone give me tips how to tune the following query by using DBMS_STATS package in oracle - 9i.

SELECT a.customer_id , a.customer_code custCode
FROM A a ,B b
WHERE ROWNUM < 1000
AND a.Country_code = 'US'
AND UPPER(b.first_name) LIKE (:QueryStrFN)
AND (a.is_master = 'Y' OR a.is_master IS NULL)
AND b.customer_id = a.customer_id
ORDER BY custCode

Or else give me any other suggestions ASAP.