Hoh Chung Shih was educated at Raffles Institution and its affiliated Raffles Junior College. He subsequently did his undergraduate studies, supported by an overseas scholarship from the Singapore Public Service Commission, at King's College London where he graduated with First Class Honours. His principal teachers were David Lumsdaine for Composition, Christopher Wintle and Arnold Whittall for Analysis. For five years after returning to Singapore he was actively involved in various aspects of music education ranging from teaching to the revision and designing of national music curricula.