On March 24th, I have my Lithuanian language exam. A real one, with a date and an examination center address. Everything in this update grew out of my own preparation.
Once again, I built this site primarily for myself. But my needs are hardly unique — if you're also preparing for the exam, you probably need the same things. Here's what changed and why.
Reliable Content
I learned my lesson: using AI-generated texts without verification is dangerous. I can't assess the grammatical correctness of Lithuanian text myself, which means I can't vouch for it.
Now all content goes through double filtering. Every exercise is created based on real textbooks — the same formulations and word forms, but reworked so you don't feel like you're repeating assignments from your textbook. Then each exercise is reviewed by native Lithuanian speakers.
All old content has been deleted. In its place — a new unified text database from which different types of exercises are generated. You can study without worrying about memorizing mistakes — this is the Lithuanian that's actually worth learning.
More Control
You understand better what's happening. Which topics are your weak spots — immediately visible. Why you're getting specific exercises — transparent. Difficulty adapts to your performance, but you can also adjust it yourself.
A user profile with your statistics has been added: progress by topic, session history, weak areas. All of this is so your preparation is deliberate, not blind. More details on how adaptive difficulty and topics work — in a separate post.
New Exercise Type: Picture Description
Picture description is part of the exam, and now you can practice it in Šaunuolė. Each picture has several description variants verified by native speakers. The generator turns the text into a gap-fill exercise — choosing which words to remove based on your topic and level. A beginner gets a text with two or three simple gaps. An experienced student — a completely different challenge. One text — a different experience for everyone.
Exams at a Glance
A full page with an exam calendar and a map of all 57 centers across Lithuania. How many days are left, where the nearest center is, how long it takes to get there — all on one screen. Data comes from the official NSA director's order, with direct links to primary sources on the page.
Mobile Version — Finally
I almost never use Šaunuolė on my phone, and it showed. This time I redesigned the mobile experience from scratch — largely thanks to you. Every screenshot with broken layouts that you sent was an invaluable bug report. Thank you.
Free. As Always.
All of this remains completely free. The only price is your time and discipline. Just practice regularly, and Šaunuolė will try to make the process a little more convenient and reliable.
A fair question: what's in it for me? If you want to support the project — simply disable your ad blocker on the site. There are ad blocks on every page, and the revenue from displaying them is enough to not need any other monetization. No subscriptions, paid features, or donations — just your adblock off.
Special thanks to volunteer native speakers, picture authors, and everyone who sent bug reports. If you'd like to help with content — I'm always grateful.
Detailed breakdowns of individual topics are coming up. Stay tuned.