A mindset-based intervention promotes academic adjustment during high-stakes examination preparation

High-stakes examinations place sustained psychological and behavioral demands on students, yet scalable tools to support adjustment during prolonged preparation remain limited. We conducted a large-scale randomized field experiment (N = 2,189) to test a fully online 3-week mindset-based goal achievement intervention designed to strengthen both adaptive interpretations of stress and the behavioral capacities required to enact them in everyday learning activities. Compared with five active and passive control conditions, the intervention produced greater improvements in academic adjustment, reflected in higher academic effort and self-esteem immediately after completion, and the advantage in effort remained detectable at follow-up. Mediation analyses showed that increases in subjective vitality and value-aligned action, rather than changes in stress mindset alone, accounted for gains in adjustment, underscoring the role of behavioral and resource-based mechanisms in translating mindsets into adaptive academic adjustment. Among participants who reported official examination scores, the intervention also yielded higher Mathematics scores, but not Politics or English scores, suggesting that psychological support may be most consequential in disciplines where performance depends on sustained deliberate practice. These findings show that rigorously evaluated psychological interventions can support students during high-stakes academic preparation and may represent a scalable pathway toward greater educational equity.