I found out today that I got 6.0 in AWA. I finished my AWA at about 04:30 GMT on 27th and I got the mail from GMAT with my official score card at about 11:00 GMT on 29th - that's just over 2 days! I thought it would take more.
I didn't practice AWAs much, I wrote one each of Analysis of an argument and Analysis of an issue the day before the exam. But I did go through Chineseburned AWA help and followed a similar structure. I also went through the sample essays given in the OG to see exactly what they were looking for in a 6 and what was the difference be/w a 6 and a 4.
In the end I figured I would do the following:
1. After reading the question thoroughly, I decided what stand I should take
2. I wrote down 3 reasons why
3. I wrote down examples - fortunately I was able to, I was afraid the topic will be too unfamiliar to get any
4. I started writing the intro with my stand, then 3 paragraphs with the 3 points and examples and then a summary
In the end it came up to about 20 lines, Each line was ~25 words so the total came to ~500 words.
I had about 6-7 minutes in the end where I re-read the passage to check for spelling or grammatical mistakes.
I don't have any essay writing experience at all and do not blog but I do have to write long "technical" mails to senior management and uninitiated customers so I am kind of used to structuring and wording long letter in such a way that a lay man can understand. Nevertheless, I am sure a 6.0 is very easy to get with a little preparation and some tricks