The problem with Akali's jungle game is that she doesn't get her gap closer until lvl 6, which means that ganking before this time will usually either result in unsecured kills, or taking a ton of poke while entering the lane. Twilight Shroud can be used to cut down on poke from ranged champions, but they'll just move away from your shroud to a point at which you can't follow up on your abilities w/o leaving stealth. Your best bet is to keep your head down and farm until you hit 6, then just go ape ****.

Once you hit lvl 6, it's time time start looking for your first mark. When ganking, a basic combo to make use of is to land your Q, ult in, E, shroud yourself to buy time for cooldowns, then repeat. Keep in mind, against champions with skillshots that could lock you down before you can deal damage, your ult can also be used on enemy minions to skirt around your target to try and coax an ability or two out of him/her before going in. Also, in the event that you would like to pull out, remember that your W is also an AoE slow, combined with your ult as a disengage, it can be a valuable tool for when things turn sour.

Never forget the fact that you are an assassin, your main job in ANY SITUATION is to LOCK DOWN THE AD CARRY(or AP carry).
taking the enemy team's main source of damage out of the fight is a big blow to any team, especially in solo queue where communication is limited.

*Gank ****
*Buy a Ward
*Don't Feed
*Get to Diamond

It's that easy.