GRE and TOEFL

This is probably the most demanding of the whole process (if you ~invested yourself in masti all the time and did not ~waste it in cultivating a habbit of reading :-). By this I mean GRE, Toefl is a child's play once you prepare for GRE.

GRE: Start with Norman Lewis Word Power to get you cell activated on learning new words, and then keep two months for mugging up Barrons. Thats it! Sounds Simple eh! Wait till you actually go through the process. Read how to mug up the world list from barron's guide. It will suggest you to make flash cards - which I too believe is the best way. Another thing can be that you record your voice in a cassette or on computer and play it at night before sleeping.

If you get:
<1100: paye lagun! Are you serious about grad school in top 50?
1100 - 1200: Err! Does your father has another 6k to shell out?
1200 - 1300: Cant Say you decide. Depends on what colleges you are targetting.
1300 - 1400: Chalega! par thoda aur nahi pad sakta tha kya?
1400 - 1500: do mahine ke mehnat rang layi!
1500 - 1550: You Rock Dude!
1550 - 1590: Sir! You are genius (must be true!)
1600: Paye Lagun! Do you really want to do engineering?

Toefl: If you are from IIT Kanpur and have to go to Allahbad the only suggestiong is SLEEP WELL before going. You should do a couple of practice test for it to know the framework.

If you get:
<250: Really?
250-275: Cant say! Check with the universities.
275-285: You did'nt sleep or what?
285-295: Good work! Keep it up.
295 - 300: Really?

Most of the places have GRE/Toefl as their cutoff. They might also use it when they have to make a chioce between two similar candidates - not sure if they really do.