Best free resources for DRI prep in 2026 — compiled list

Great list. I'd add: LinkedIn Learning has some emergency management-related courses that overlap with cert content, and if you have a library card many libraries give free access to it. Also check if your local library has access to O'Reilly or similar — tons of technical content there.

For DRI - Disaster Recovery Institute International Certification specifically, I found the PracticeTestGeeks explanations were detailed enough that I didn't need to buy a separate study guide. The combination of doing the practice questions + reading every explanation (for both right and wrong answers) covered most of the content I needed.

The official candidate guide is something a lot of people skip but it literally tells you the topic weighting and domain breakdown. It's the roadmap for your study plan. Never skip it.

Just wanted to say this list is a lifesaver — I've been going down a rabbit hole trying to figure out what's actually worth studying. Quick question for anyone who's already passed: how much of the exam ends up being Business Continuity Plan development versus the actual crisis management / response side? I keep going back and forth on where to put my energy.

The BCP documentation stuff feels pretty intuitive to me, but I'm struggling with the risk assessment frameworks — specifically how DRII differentiates between a BIA and a risk analysis when they overlap so much in practice. Like, I get the textbook definitions, but the practice questions I've been doing keep tripping me up on edge cases where you're deciding which methodology applies first. Is that something that comes up a lot on the actual exam or am I overthinking it?

Also curious whether people found the professional practices heavily tested relative to the scenario-based questions. My weak spot is definitely the interdependency analysis piece and I want to make sure I'm not under-preparing for that section before I sit for it.