This study was aimed at clarifying the influence of instructional support (focusing on metacognitive or cognitive levels of task accomplishment) and task constraints (exam preparation or searching for a particular text unit) on the way students with different learning styles (deep processing versus surface processing) completed a study task in a hypertext reading environment. We expected deep processing students to benefit from metacognitive support and surface processing students to learn from cognitive support. In Experiment 1 these expectations were partly confirmed. Strategic hints (metacognitive level) had little effect, apparently because the students did not possess any domain knowledge at the outset. An advance organizer (cognitive level) proved harmful to deep processing students but beneficial to surface processing students. Experiment 2 showed that students who combined self-regulation with deep processing and students who combined external regulation with surface processing outperformed students with complimentary combinations of regulation style and processing style. It is argued that selection skills may underlie both regulation and processing styles for studying expository texts.