There are some things that can only be mastered by rote and there are other things for which rote learning is simply hazardous. In this case, mathematics.

First, students who successfully complete the Saxon math cirriculum don't need to worry about not scoring well on standardized tests. If this is your sole or primary concern, this or any other "cookbook" text will do. If, however, you are interested in REALLY learning mathematics, and MASTERING it, you need to abandon this cirriculum before it is too late.

Saxon does not teach you math. What Saxon does is outline a recipe for any given problem, and then has the student plug-and-chug ad infinitum. This is not math. Math is more than rote computation.

Math is not an instrument, like Saxon contends. Mathematics is really more of an art. Does a successful artist/painter master his delicate and difficult art by drawing the same image over and over again?

Students that successfully complete this program will be left with the false impression that they have mastered mathematics when in fact they have not. They will be in a for a rude awakening when encountering higher mathematics, especially mathematics in which theory, if not necessarily trumpeting application, is equally balanced with application. You can guess as much when Saxon writes in his Algebra 2 text: "It is important to understand why we do things in algebra, but it is also important not to let the emphasis on understanding interfere with our ability to do." NONENSE! If you know why, then you know how. And the why should always come first.

Unfortunately, there aren't any alternative texts, so far as I know, that I can heartily recommend. So all I can suggest is that the serious student of mathematics look around. I did this for Calculus, and came across three excellent texts by three outstanding authors: Michael Spivak, Tom Apostol, and Richard Courant. Their texts put Saxon's and all the other cookbook texts on the market to shame.