DNA Kit Question

[jadal]

I will be receiving my results from my kit soon and I was wondering if there are any pointers on understanding the results.
Are they easy to understand? Do results tell you allot right away or do you have to turn into an overnight genealogist physist to understand what FTDNA sends you?
I sent the kit in about 5 weeks ago. Is this usually about the time frame it takes to get the results back?

[dennis]

You did not say which test you ordered. The mtDNA test tells you your "deep" maternal ancestry - going back thousands of years. You may find several people who match your mtDNA, but the relationship usually pre-dates our paper genealogy.
If you had the Y-chromosome test, the results are really only useful in comparing your DNA to others. Look at the tutorial or information pages of the company that did your DNA test. They usually have excellent tutorials on interpreting the results. The science is somewhat complex, but the interpretation is not. It's like my car, I'm not real sure how it works, but I can use it to take me lots of places.
Dennis West