As Tom suggested, you should ask your teacher.
I teach all levels of Access from beginning to advanced programming. I
interchange versions all the time with no problems. In fact, I currently
teach Office Access 2003 using Access 2000 manuals because I like them
better.
As Tom said, at the beginning level, the only thing that you might encounter
is that some things will be in slightly different places. Basically Menus
and Toolbars. *Not* a big deal. At more advanced levels, they might cover
some of the (few) "new" features in Access 2002 that you won't have.
Which of course brings up the $64 question. Why Access 2002 (Office XP)?
It's been the "old" version for almost a year now.
The current version is Office Access 2003 (Office 2003.)
Good luck
Sco