Sentence Correction (SC) | Re: The large increase in applicants to graduate school last year, caused

My answer is(E) . It took me 01:27.

(A) "increase in applicants" does not make sense. "are" does not agree with "increase"
(B) See above
(C) "have" does not agree with "increase'

Now the split between (D) and (E) are "effecting" and "affecting".
Effect, as a verb, means "to cause something to happen".
Affect means "have an effect on something".

(E) makes sense.

Still, "last year" and "is affecting"
...

---