GRE : why when and how ?

GRE : Graduate record examination
This is a must exam alongwith TOEFL (which is also compulsary to apply to US universities for higher studies.

The typical question asked today is "Why US? Indian engineers are earning enough, why go to US?" (This post is only for engineers, others shoooo :) ) ... The reason is, the US education system induces some practicality in you. + You have a chance to become independant i.e. live on yourself. Also, although software engineering is a booming field, there are bound to be recessions and your MS degree in US will help your boss NOT to sack you:).

When ? : there is no restriction by ETS (the GRE conducting body) as to when can appear for GRE. But, considering our own benifit, I suggest you should appear for GRE in your TE (that too, the month of March. March because it is believed that the examination is a bit easier then). TE because, you'll need atleast a year to complete all the formalities : GRE score, TOEFL score, VISA, application to universities etc). So, you can leave for USA as soon as your BE examinations are over. Thus, you don't end up sitting at your home for a year straining your father's income:). If you are NOT sure whether you will clear all subjects in TE or BE, then also, it is suggested to appear in TE only, because GRE score is valid for 5 years.

Classes : I don't know about others, but Dilip Oak's is a good option if you are a puneite. But, again classes are not that much of a help. I suggest, buy out the DOAK's material and prepare on your own.

Books and other resources :
The ultimate guide will be Barron's book. A nice work. You can also go for, Princeton or Kaplan's guides. Besides, there's a lot of material available online.
You can also download some from,
http://nidheshjain.googlepages.com/gre2
and if anyone needs anything more, well you can contact me. I pride myself with an awesome GRE collection.

Required score :
for computer engineers anything above 1300 will be called decent.
One can easily score 750+ in the quantitative section. So, you are just supposed to scrape in 550 odd in verbal which won't be a problem.
Also, recently Analytical writing scores have gained importance. try to get atleast 8 out of 12. Again this is NOT at all difficult.

Final words :
Anyone readin this post now would probably appear in the new syllabus. So, beware there are only Reading Comprehension and Sentence Completion type questions. RCs are hell. So, start reading now. You need to have a good vocabulary to understand the RCs and attempt the SCs. So, taking a look at the Barron's list will still be a good idea (although, ypu won't need to learn the words as you needed to do in the OLD syllabus)
Plus, the new syllabus will be a 5.5 to 6 hours ordeal. So, get your concentrations up too.
And, Quantitative and Analytical sections are unchanged, so, NO problems on that front.

(Add a comment if you found this useful or if you need further information.
Best of Luck in your endeavour)