Sentence Correction

Students in the metropolitan school district lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries.
(A) lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
(B) lack math skills to a large enough degree that they will be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy that becomes
(C) lack of math skills is so large as to be difficult to absorb them into a city’s economy that becomes
(D) are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy becoming
(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming

It is hard for me to find any error in "D" and "E". Can someone tell me what is the answer and reason for selecting that.

My vote is for E

(D) are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy becoming
(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming

gmat009 wrote:Students in the metropolitan school district lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries.
(A) lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
(B) lack math skills to a large enough degree that they will be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy that becomes
(C) lack of math skills is so large as to be difficult to absorb them into a city’s economy that becomes
(D) are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy becoming
(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming

It is hard for me to find any error in "D" and "E". Can someone tell me what is the answer and reason for selecting that.

ANS is E.

Can anyone explain reason.
IMO D is using right idiom " Not so much ......as"
E is using right idiom "so.......that" .
What's wrong with D

In option D, there is no "NOT" .Even if it had been there, it would have made no sense.
INCORRECT: "students are not lacking somuch as to be.... " ,
CORRECT: students are not lacking somuch as SOMEBODYELSE ( a noun is required to compare)

Option D is abusing the idiom : "so as to be"- which is almost always incorrect on gmat if split.

Correct usage of "so as to be" is -- They did X so as to be able to do Y.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/og-sc-118-t3 ... h%20skills

PLEASE take a note

gmat009 wrote:Students in the metropolitan school district lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries.
(A) lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
(B) lack math skills to a large enough degree that they will be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy that becomes
(C) lack of math skills is so large as to be difficult to absorb them into a city’s economy that becomes
(D) are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy becoming
(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming

It is hard for me to find any error in "D" and "E". Can someone tell me what is the answer and reason for selecting that.

SERIOUSLy what is this? Please underline the question stem.