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Is it necessary - well no. Can it help - well sometimes, depends on the instructor.
For me, I did it right after OW. I was 'advanced' at dive 11. My wife has yet to do it after 150 dives and numerous classes. (Padi OW, IANTD Nitrox, IANTD Advanced Nitrox, IANTD Tec Nitrox, NACD Full Cave). At this point, the AOW class offers very little for her.
To be honest, look at your dive skills and see if 5 dives with an instructor would be of interest or benefit. Do you have things you want to try, like nitrox, search and recovery or drysuit. Do you have buoyancy issues you could use help with. If you say yes, then AOW can be a benefit.
If you don't think those adventure dives offer you much, well look at an IANTD rescue or NAUI rescue class. Either class will serve you very well and they don't require AOW like PADI does. Actually, I think they have MUCH MORE value than the AOW class.
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