Penang Free School... Let us march on to fame... [1996]

Whenever I think of my alma mater, Penang Free School, I can't help hearing in my head the PFS anthem which I last sang in 1976 !

Let us march on to fame
Let the ailes proclaim
Till the anthem will dare us to do
Let us onwards to win and new laurel gains
Frees School for the brave and the true.."

I had my primary education in Westlands Primary School ( now the Westlands Centre of Sports Excellence) from 1964 to 1969.

Based on the assessment exams for Standard 6, I was given a chance to enter Form I at PFS in 1970. I remember sitting for an open examination together with students from other feeder schools like Wellesley, Hutchings etc.

Based on the results, I was streamed into Form 1A. At that time, I was pretty proud of my achievement not knowing that I was soon to be demoted to Form 2C & Form 3D ! You see, my method for studying was to study just a few days before the exams. This used to work for me in primary school as I was always in the top 3 of my class.

Anyway, I finally woke up in Form 3 and managed to get two distinctions and the rest credits to enter Form 4 Science 2. As I recall, I was always at the bottom of my class as I was spending more time Scouting ! By a miracle and lots of common sense , I managed to pass my MCE again with 2 distinctions several credits and almost failed my Additional Maths & Bahasa Malaysia. As I recall we had to sit the BM paper twice due to the infamous leak !'

By the way, those days you had to get less than 8 points from 2 science & 1 maths subject to enter Lower Six. Again by some miracle, I gain entrance into Lower Six Science 2 with 8 points from 3 science subjects as compared to the 9 points gained from the best 2 science + 1 maths combination !

In lower & upper six, I was up to my old tricks i.e failing monthly exams, term examinations due to my interest in Scouting & other society activities. I was the Troop Leader for 1st Georgetown (S) Boy Scout in 1975 and the Assistant Senior Scout Leader of the Senior Troop in 1976 . I even managed to win prizes for my science projects at the State Science Exibitions.

The price I had to pay for the lack of attention was a mediocre HSC result ! That's how a science student became a Certified Public Accountant