Good. 🙂
You 'exempt' years is 5 CALENDAR years. So that is 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. So starting on January 1st, 2018, you start to "count days" to see if you are a Resident or not. If you were in the US for more than 183 days, you are a Resident Alien for the entire year.
That means (1) you do NOT need to make the First Year Choice, and (2) you DO qualify for the educational credits (assuming you meet all of the other qualifications).
