Extemp Topic Areas

Questions in Extemporaneous Speaking will cover events occurring within the previous 4-5 months.

ROUND 1 - US Politics & Elections

ROUND 2 - Foreign Affairs & Foreign Policy

ROUND 3 - Economic, Social & Cultural Issues

ROUND 4 - Political Cartoons

Topic areas should be interpreted broadly.

ABOUT POLITICAL CARTOONS: The Round 4 prompts will be political/editorial cartoons rather than traditional questions. Students will blindly choose three cartoons, then select one on which to base their speech. Contestants are not being asked to analyze the cartoon or to defend or refute its message. Rather, they are to compose and answer their own Extemp question based on the cartoon (or some part thereof). The question should be one that can reasonably be answered in a 7-minute Extemp speech after 30 minutes of preparation.