Students participating in extemporaneous commentary are given 20 minutes to prepare a five-minute speech (with a 30-second grace period) on a topic relevant to modern politics.
Students in commentary deliver their speeches sitting down, usually on the opposite side of a table from the judge(s).
At the beginning of a tournament, students participating in this event are brought to a holding room, where an order is assigned (usually by picking numbers at random).
Originally, extemporaneous commentary topics were more general and more focused on opinions than extemporaneous topics were, making extemp commentary an almost "halfway point" between impromptu speaking and normal extemp.
Extemp commentary has been an event at the National Speech and Debate Tournament since 1985.