Hi there!

"as recently as" is an Idiom used to emphasize that the time period described is fairly recent. You are correct that we could say, "As recently as March, she had applied for the job." (Notice the correct use of singular past perfect tense, "had")

However, "Even until recent March" and "At recent March" are both INCORRECT.

"recent" is an adjective meaning "not long ago" or "modern." You would never use it to describe a month. Instead, you would use the word "last" to pinpoint exactly which year you are discussing.

CORRECT: "Last March, she applied for the job."

INCORRECT: "Recent March, she applied for the job."

Notice how the incorrect choice doesn't tell us exactly when she applied. Was it 2010? 2009? etc.

Hi Ms. Vivian,
Thank you for a nice answer with cute smiles ^^
Your detailed explaination for about the differences with last and recent make my understanding more clearly. However, I could not catch the exact meaning of the phrase "as recently as March" yet.

If i correct the possible meaning of "as recently as" as "Even until last March" or "Last March" which one will you go for? I think this difference is important for RC part because if the phrase's exact meaning is the first one, I can expect an opposite change of the content. right?

"As recently as March,..." would mean that the action occurred in March. "Recently" is just clarifying the author's idea that the action did not take place too long ago.

"Even until last March" is incorrect; "last march" is closer in meaning to "as recently as March" and could be used interchangeably.