Sentence Correction

In California today, Hispanics under the age of eighteen account for more than 43 percent, compared with a decade ago, when it was about 35 percent.

A. In California today, Hispanics under the age of eighteen account for more than 43 percent, compared with a decade ago, when it was about 35 percent.
B. Of the Californians under the age of eighteen, today more than 43 percent of them are Hispanic, compared with a decade ago, when it was about 35 percent.
C. Today, more than 43 percent of Californians under the age of eighteen are Hispanic, compared with about 35 percent a decade ago.
D. Today, compared to a decade ago, Californians who are Hispanics under the age of eighteen account for more than 43 percent, whereas it was about 35 percent.
E. Today, Hispanics under the age of eighteen in California account for more than 43 percent, unlike a decade ago, when it was about 35 percent.

EDIT:
I finally understand the intended meaning of the sentence. In any case, the OA is c

+1 for C

Crick

Great question. One thing I've noticed with a lot of "percent of..." SC questions is that they love to use the pronoun "it" without a clear referent, and this one doesn't disappoint!

Look at "it" in A, B, D, and E. "When it was about 35 percent" ---> what does "it" refer to? If the sentence set up "the figure" or "the number" ahead of time, then "it" could work, but none of these do.

There are other errors in those choices, too, but if you train yourself to look for pronoun errors, often when statistics are given, you can knock out 4 of the 5 with that concept alone here.

Yes, "it" has no precedence in any of the answer choices. The question is comparing percentages, so all, except c, makes comparison between percentage and California (or Hispanics in California). As long as you distinguish what the question is comparing, this question boils down to just one answer.