Critical Reading SAT Question

Critical Reading SAT Question
 

August 20th, 2009 SAT Question of the Day:

Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted in the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.


Demographers and anthropologists have corrected the notion that European explorers in North America entered a ------- territory by showing that the land in some areas was already as densely ------- as parts of Europe.

A. fertile..settled
B. colossal..wooded
C. desolate..populated :good:
D. valuable..exploited
E. hostile..concentrated

HINT: The word "“corrected” suggests that the word in the first blank contrasts the word in the second blank.

It is C because according to the hint, the first word has to contrast with the second word - desolate and populated are opposites.

I can't argue with this. Is it given as a specimen answer, or did you solve it yourself?

you're right, C is the answer

I solved it myself. I put in C. C is right.