How we prepare materials for the A2 exam
Every material on Šaunuolė is written by a Lithuanian teacher and proofread by an editor. We don’t publish unverified AI content: on the auto-graded A2 exam a single wrong case form = a counted mistake, and large language models are still unreliable with Lithuanian cases and phrasing. That’s why correctness here is ensured by practising Lithuanian teachers with relevant education.
Below — who prepares the materials and how, from which sources, and what we deliberately don’t do.
Who works on the materials
All content on the platform is original. To prepare it, Šaunuolė works with Lithuanian-language teachers and editors who give the content a final proofread after the teachers. The platform’s developers don’t create content — their role is limited to building and maintaining Šaunuolė.
Three criteria for teachers
When deciding whether to work with content authors, we look at three criteria that matter to us:
- Lithuanian as a first or second native language. The language a person has thought and spoken in since childhood.
- A philological, linguistic or related education. The person professionally commands the tools of language analysis — morphology, syntax, phonetics.
- At least two years of experience teaching Lithuanian as a foreign language. An understanding of both the specifics of teaching and the end goal — passing the state exam.
The editor
The editor’s job is to proofread the teachers' text, checking it for typos, duplicate correct answers, or unclear context. We work with an editor who has years of experience proofreading Lithuanian texts for print publications.
Sources
We work only with verifiable sources:
- The Constitution of Lithuania in Lithuanian, Russian and English, as published on the Seimas website (lrs.lt)
- Official pavyzdiniai testai from NŠA (Nacionalinė švietimo agentūra) — sample citizenship exam tests
- State resources on the exam and citizenship procedure: Migracijos departamentas, ŠVIS
- Reports from Šaunuolė learners about real exams — they let us cross-check materials against what appears in current exam sessions
How a material is prepared
Every material goes through five steps before publication:
- Needs analysis. Before starting a draft, we look at what the platform is currently missing: which exam-relevant topics aren’t covered yet, which topics lack enough material, which forms (for example, numerals or specific case constructions) aren’t sufficiently drilled in exercises.
- Draft. A Lithuanian teacher prepares the first version of the material based on the sources.
- Language check. Correctness of Lithuanian, naturalness of phrasing, alignment with the exam level.
- Editorial proofread. The editor checks the final text: typos, consistency, alignment of translations across languages.
- Publication. The material goes live with a fixed last-updated date.
What we do when an error is found
If we or our learners find an error in a finished material, it goes back to the start of the cycle: it’s reviewed, reworded, or replaced with another option. Changes are never made bypassing the teacher and editor.
One unambiguous correct answer
Beyond the correctness of the material itself, we make sure each task has one obviously correct answer. If an exercise allows several equally acceptable answers, we change the task type to one where the correct option is unambiguous.
This is our “do no harm”. If two answers are correct but the automatic check counts only one, the learner gets a false error signal where they actually made no mistake. We avoid such situations.
Updates
The exam and its materials change slowly, but they do change: NŠA releases new sample tests, question wordings are adjusted, and real exams bring up variants that weren’t there last year.
- When NŠA releases a new pavyzdinis testas, we cross-check existing materials and update what has changed
- Every month we review learner reports about real exams — if a topic appears more often or with new wording, we update it
- The Constitution and its parallel translation are checked for currency whenever the official text on lrs.lt changes
Priorities when choosing material
Lithuanian is a rich language. When we started working with one of our editors, as a warm-up she collected 19 verbs for describing rain. That’s a professional philologist’s volume.
But for the exam it’s excessive. On the A2 exam what matters is that nerves don’t make you mix up cases or forget words. That’s exactly the platform’s focus.
So Šaunuolė deliberately gives a narrow, targeted vocabulary. We pick the necessary minimum a user needs for the exam and drill it to automaticity through the trainer.
Šaunuolė doesn’t use material from Lithuanian textbooks and doesn’t copy their structure. At the same time, we know users prepare for the exam exactly with “Nė dienos be lietuvių kalbos”, “Sėkmės!”, “Po truputį” and others. So we design Šaunuolė's exercises to complement and reinforce your study process.
What we don’t do
It’s also important to say what we don’t have on the platform:
- We don’t publish AI-generated content without human review. Today’s LLMs are unreliable as authors of Lithuanian texts and phrasing. To guarantee 100% correct materials, we not only work with human authors but also have to forgo audio content or AI answer-checking. All those options will appear on the platform only once we can guarantee the correctness of their Lithuanian.
- We don’t work with unverified phrasings. Learner reports about real exams and feedback from native speakers are valuable signals, but we verify every such observation before it reaches the platform’s materials.
Frequently asked questions
Does Šaunuolė use AI to create materials?
No. Texts and exercises are prepared by Lithuanian teachers and proofread by an editor. We don’t publish AI-generated content without human review — it’s our “do no harm” principle for an auto-graded exam.
Who creates the materials?
Practising Lithuanian-language teachers (Lithuanian as a native language, relevant education, experience teaching it as a foreign language) and an editor experienced in proofreading Lithuanian publications. The platform’s developers don’t write content.
How are tasks checked?
Every material goes through five steps: needs analysis → teacher’s draft → language check → editorial proofread → publication with an update date. We make sure each task has one unambiguous correct answer.
Is Šaunuolė suitable for the residence-permit exam?
Yes. The platform prepares you for the written part of the Lithuanian A2 exam and is gradually covering speaking-part tasks (for example, “describe a picture”). Speaking is best practised together with conversation clubs, a tutor or courses — Šaunuolė complements them, it doesn’t replace them. And for the permanent-residence exam there’s a separate package, Konstitucija, for comprehensive prep.
Ready to practise?
The best way to test the methodology is to try it yourself.
Spotted an error?
Write to us: support@saunuole.lt — or via the Contact page.