Linda, as with most things in life, it depends on what you want out. The Family Finder test is only a few months old; it is very different from the Y-DNA (SURNAME) test and the mtDNA (all female-line) test. So now we have 3 basic tests to choose from: Y-DNA test which follows the SURNAME - use this test to research a specific SURNAME; each SURNAME Project has a Project Admin to help you and he/she usually has a wealth of info on the different lines with that SURNAME mtDNA test which follows the all-female line back for thousands of years - use this test to verify a female lineage; many matches will be before genealogy records, and therefore impossible to trace or link; it's also very hard to trace female lines with all the name changes; and generally there are no project Admins to help you. The new Family Finder test, looks at 500,000 places all across all of your DNA, and as such gets big blocks of DNA from ALL of your ancestors. If someone else takes the same test, and shares one of your ancestors, then he/she may well get part of the same big block of DNA that you got (and this tends to happen in 5-10 different places on your and their DNA), and so the computer selects these people (from the whole database of everyone who takes this test) and reports only these matches to you. Depending on how much and how many big blocks of matching DNA you share indicates how close your cousin match might be. THIS TEST TREATS EVERY ANCESTOR EQUALLY (MALE & FEMALE); so males and females can take the same test; and the matches with other people could be from any of your ancestors. The main drawback on this test is that it determines 3rd cousin matches pretty easily, and it drops off quickly as you get past 5th cousin. So if you want to target a specific line, you should get a Y-DNA or mtDNA test - both of these will show matches back many hundreds of years. If you want to confirm many of your ancestral lines back 5,6,7 generations, sometimes more, then the Family Finder test is the one for you. Jim Bartlett -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Friday, September 24, 2010 5:19 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: [HCPD] Confused! DNA testing What test works with both male and female lines? If you test with one group does it also work with other groups? Am I expecting too much from one test? Which test should I take? Linda ************ Do the readers and our archives a favor, please trim quoted messages. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message