Beaten by a locksmith

[gmat6087]

Before John won the lottery, he was a poor locksmith.

A) won the lottery, he was a poor locksmith.
B) had won the lottery, he was a poor locksmith.
C) won the lottery, he had been a poor locksmith.
D) won the lottery, he were a poor locksmith.
E) wins the lottery, he was a poor locksmith.

OA C

Source aristotle SC guide.

I have one doubt why is not the answer is A here before tells the time. According to MGMAT SC Guide,
She closed the doors before she left for the office. (is a correct sentence). Why the same rule is not applied here.

[gmatwar13]

It is a clear statemen where one event happened in past and other happened before it...
so first event should be simple past but other one should be past perfect. So C

Before states which event happened first. But the sentence should always have correct grammatical order. if there would not have been option C then your option would have been correct.. GMAT prefers clarity...

[naveenchandra kv]

IMO, C is Correct.

Past perfect tense is required to explain sequencing of two events and both the events must be related.

In this case, it holds good.

Use of After/before markers makes it optional to use the past perfect tense. However, if choices are provided with simple past and past perfect tenses, it is advisable to choose the best possible option.