"It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem."
\- _Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy_
Your teacher meant Percentile Rank. In the Wikipedia Article, it is verifiably stated that: " _In test theory, the percentile rank of a raw score is interpreted as the percentages of examinees in the norm group who scored at or below the score of interest._ "
So, in mathematical layman's terms, for practical everyday examination purpouses,
> _"The $n^{\text{th}}$ Perecentile Rank in a group whose highest mark is $m$ is equivalent to $n\%$ of $m$
> and vice-versa"_
No one can be blamed. The terms Percentile and Percentile Rank are interchanged especially in schools and test centres where they conduct competitive examinations.
A percentile is a different concept similar to deciles in statistics.