This is exactly what I did and I was wondering about this - thanks!

Very nice

Jesus Christ!

This is very simple and very elegant. (IMHO)

Agreed. Too simple for 6 Kyu.

How I do it is I set a time limit to solve a Kata. If I really can't see a solution within the time limit, I google how to solve the problem. Then I get the tests to pass, submit and compare my solution with others. I then save examples of anything I have learned to repl.it - I then have a toolbox of solutions to refer to (no Kata spoilers saved here I might add!) I also make sure that I understand how any new features or builtin functions of the language I've learned work. I don't rush to complete Kata, I try to take my time, I usually only do one a day, and spend about an hour a day in total on all of the above work I have described. I've already levelled up from 8 to 6 and that's in less than 2 months. Little by little. My goal is to become a code wars Sensei and level up to the extent that I can help others.

Thank you!

Yeah - thanks for the reminder!

Ah I used charAt() too for the odd length string and substring() instead of slice() for the even length string. I was hella confused by all the substr() solutions, like whatttt why are they hardcoding the end position as 1 or 2. God damn JavaScript. slice, substr, substring... enough already!