The generic term of ability grouping will be used to describe the practice where students of perceived similar achievement levels are placed in the same classroom or group. Mathematics teachers are more likely to support homogeneous grouping than their colleagues in other discipline areas. Drawing on responses of interviews with ninety-six students from Years 9 and 10 in Queensland schools, questions were posed about the effects - social, cognitive and emotional - on students who placed in ability groups. Six schools serving very different clientele were the basis of the study and relatively equal numbers of boys and girls participated. The outcomes of this study shed insights into the perceptions of young people in streamed mathematics classrooms. The comments reinforce other studies where the students who are in the upper stream are more likely to benefit from ability grouping (where there are any benefits) but those most at risk in homogeneous settings are those in the lower streams.