Although widely used to measure self-regulated learning strategies, the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire has not yielded satisfactory construct validity across empirical studies. This study examined its psychometric properties by focusing on one of its subscales, the Cognitive and Metacognitive Learning Strategies Scales, among 419 preservice physical education teachers (Mage = 23.05 years, SD = 4.28) from five physical education teacher preparation programmes in the southwestern United States of America. The participants responded to the 31-item Cognitive and Metacognitive Learning Strategies Scales, which assessed five categories of learning strategies: rehearsal, elaboration, organization, critical thinking, and metacognitive self-regulation. Each item was on a seven-point Likert scale. Initial confirmatory factor analysis did not support the original five-factor model. Following exploratory factor analysis identified three latent factors. Subsequent bifactor exploratory factor analysis revealed one general factor and two group factors, and following bifactor confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that this structure had an acceptable model fit, ?2[subscript (353)] = 731.327, p <0.001; Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.053; Comparative Fit Index = 0.907; Standardized Root Mean Square Residual = 0.047. A respecified bifactor model with 18 items resulted in a good fit, ?2[subscript (120)] = 161.384, p <0.001; Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.030; Comparative Fit Index = 0.980; Standardized Root Mean Square Residual = 0.034. Score reliability for the general factor Omega[subset Hierarchical] = 0.825; for the two group factors, Omega[subscript Scales] = 0.211 and 0.238, respectively. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.