© 2021, The Author(s).In this work, we present a new technique for solving the center problem for nilpotent singularities which consists of determining a new normal form conveniently adapted to study the center problem for this singularity. In fact, it is a pre-normal form with respect to classical Bogdanov–Takens normal formal and it allows to approach the center problem more efficiently. The new normal form is applied to several examples.