diff --git a/benchmarks/embench/Makefile b/benchmarks/embench/Makefile
index 4a4875dfa..1525a2b82 100644
--- a/benchmarks/embench/Makefile
+++ b/benchmarks/embench/Makefile
@@ -2,39 +2,56 @@
 # Expanded and developed by dtorres@hmc.edu
 # Compile Embench for Wally
 
-all: build sim
+all: sim size
 
 allClean: clean all
 
 build: buildspeed buildsize
 
+# uses the build_all.py python file to build the tests in addins/embench-iot/bd_speed/ optimized for speed
 buildspeed:
-	../../addins/embench-iot/build_all.py --builddir=bd_speed --arch riscv32 --chip generic --board rv32wallyverilog --ldflags="-nostartfiles ../../../config/riscv32/boards/rv32wallyverilog/startup/crt0.S" --cflags="-nostartfiles" 
+	../../addins/embench-iot/build_all.py --builddir=bd_speed --arch riscv32 --chip generic --board rv32wallyverilog --ldflags="-nostartfiles ../../../config/riscv32/boards/rv32wallyverilog/startup/crt0.S" --cflags="-O2 -nostartfiles" 
 	find ../../addins/embench-iot/bd_speed/ -type f ! -name "*.*" | while read f; do cp "$$f" "$$f.elf"; done
 
+# uses the build_all.py python file to build the tests in addins/embench-iot/bd_speed/ optimized for size
 buildsize:
-	../../addins/embench-iot/build_all.py --builddir=bd_size --arch riscv32 --chip generic --board rv32wallyverilog --ldflags="-nostdlib -nostartfiles ../../../config/riscv32/boards/rv32wallyverilog/startup/dummy.S" --cflags="-msave-restore" --dummy-libs="libgcc libm libc crt0"
+	../../addins/embench-iot/build_all.py --builddir=bd_size --arch riscv32 --chip generic --board rv32wallyverilog --ldflags="-nostdlib -nostartfiles ../../../config/riscv32/boards/rv32wallyverilog/startup/dummy.S" --cflags="-Os -msave-restore" --dummy-libs="libgcc libm libc crt0"
 
-sim: modelSimBuild speed
+# builds dependencies, then launches modelsim and finally runs python wrapper script to present results
+sim: modelsim_build_memfile modelsim_run speed
 
-# vsim:
-# 	cd ../../pipelined/regression/
-# 	vsim -c -do "do wally-pipelined-batch.do rv32gc embench"
-# 	cd ../../benchmarks/embench/
-
-modelSimBuild: buildspeed objdump
-	find ../../addins/embench-iot/bd_speed/ -type f -name "*.elf" | while read f; do riscv64-unknown-elf-elf2hex --bit-width 32 --input "$$f" --output "$$f.memfile"; done
-	find ../../addins/embench-iot/bd_speed/ -type f -name "*.elf.objdump" | while read f; do extractFunctionRadix.sh $$f; done
-
-size:
-	../../addins/embench-iot/benchmark_size.py --builddir=bd_size
-
-speed:
-	../../addins/embench-iot/benchmark_speed.py --builddir=bd_speed --target-module run_wally --cpu-mhz=1
+# launches modelsim to simulate tests on wally
+modelsim_run:
+	(cd ../../pipelined/regression/ && vsim -c -do "do wally-pipelined-batch.do rv32gc embench")
+	cd ../../benchmarks/embench/
 
+# builds the objdump based on the compiled c elf files
 objdump: buildspeed
 	find ../../addins/embench-iot/bd_speed/ -type f -name "*.elf" | while read f; do riscv64-unknown-elf-objdump -S -D "$$f" > "$$f.objdump"; done
 
+# build memfiles, objdump.lab and objdump.addr files
+modelsim_build_memfile: objdump
+	find ../../addins/embench-iot/bd_speed/ -type f -name "*.elf" | while read f; do riscv64-unknown-elf-elf2hex --bit-width 32 --input "$$f" --output "$$f.memfile"; done
+	find ../../addins/embench-iot/bd_speed/ -type f -name "*.elf.objdump" | while read f; do extractFunctionRadix.sh $$f; done
+
+# builds the tests for speed, runs them on spike and then launches python script to present results
+# note that the speed python script benchmark_speed.py can get confused if there's both a .output file created from spike and modelsim
+# you'll need to manually remove one of the two .output files, or run make clean
+spike: buildspeed spikecmd speed
+
+# command to run spike on all of the benchmarks
+spike_run: buildspeed
+	find ../../addins/embench-iot/bd_speed/ -type f -name "*.elf" | while read f; do spike --isa=rv32imac +signature=$$f.spike.output +signature-granularity=4 $$f; done
+
+# python wrapper to present results of embench size benchmark
+size: buildsize
+	../../addins/embench-iot/benchmark_size.py --builddir=bd_size
+
+# python wrapper to present results of embench speed benchmark
+speed:
+	../../addins/embench-iot/benchmark_speed.py --builddir=bd_speed --target-module run_wally --cpu-mhz=1
+
+# deletes all files
 clean: 
 	rm -rf ../../addins/embench-iot/bd_speed/
 	rm -rf ../../addins/embench-iot/bd_size/
@@ -42,13 +59,4 @@ clean:
 allclean: clean
 	rm -rf ../../addins/embench-iot/logs/
 
-# std:
-# 	../../addins/embench-iot/build_all.py --builddir=bd_std --arch riscv32 --chip generic --board rv32wallyverilog --cc riscv64-unknown-elf-gcc --cflags="-v -c -O2 -ffunction-sections -march=rv32imac -mabi=ilp32" --ldflags="-Wl,-gc-sections -v -march=rv32imac -mabi=ilp32 ../../../../../benchmarks/embench/tohost.S -T../../../config/riscv32/boards/rv32wallyverilog/link.ld" --user-libs="-lm" 
-# 	riscv64-unknown-elf-objdump -D ../../addins/embench-iot/bd_std/src/aha-mont64/aha-mont64 > ../../addins/embench-iot/bd_std/src/aha-mont64/aha-mont64.objdump
-# --dummy-libs="libgcc libm libc"
-# --cflags "-O2 -g -nostartfiles"
-# ../../addins/embench-iot/build_all.py --arch riscv32 --chip generic --board rv32wallyverilog --cc riscv64-unknown-elf-gcc --cflags="-c -Os -ffunction-sections -nostdlib -march=rv32imac -mabi=ilp32" --ldflags="-Wl,-gc-sections -nostdlib -march=rv32imac -mabi=ilp32 -T../../../config/riscv32/boards/rv32wallyverilog/link.ld" --dummy-libs="libgcc libm libc"
-# --user-libs="-lm" 
-# riscv64-unknown-elf-gcc -O2 -g -nostartfiles -I/home/harris/riscv-wally/addins/embench-iot/support -I/home/harris/riscv-wally/addins/embench-iot/config/riscv32/boards/ri5cyverilator -I/home/harris/riscv-wally/addins/embench-iot/config/riscv32/chips/generic -I/home/harris/riscv-wally/addins/embench-iot/config/riscv32 -DCPU_MHZ=1 -DWARMUP_HEAT=1 -o main.o /home/harris/riscv-wally/addins/embench-iot/support/main.c
-
-# find ../../addins/embench-iot/bd_speed/ -type f -name "*.elf.objdump.lab" | while read f; do grep -n "begin_signature" $f | cut -f1 -d:
+# riscv64-unknown-elf-gcc -O2 -g -nostartfiles -I/home/harris/riscv-wally/addins/embench-iot/support -I/home/harris/riscv-wally/addins/embench-iot/config/riscv32/boards/ri5cyverilator -I/home/harris/riscv-wally/addins/embench-iot/config/riscv32/chips/generic -I/home/harris/riscv-wally/addins/embench-iot/config/riscv32 -DCPU_MHZ=1 -DWARMUP_HEAT=1 -o main.o /home/harris/riscv-wally/addins/embench-iot/support/main.c
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