This paper studies a slow–fast system whose principal characteristic is that the slow manifold is given by the critical set of the cusp catastrophe. Our analysis consists of two main parts: first, we recall a formal normal form suitable for systems as the one studied here; afterwards, taking advantage of this normal form, we investigate the transition near the cusp singularity by means of the blow up technique. Our contribution relies heavily in the usage of normal form theory, allowing us to refine previous results.