The thing is, she actually was able to study sith magic (such as the teachings on Malachor V and Korriban, and holocrons etc.) and likely knew of their conquests, such as Sadow making a star go nova. Through these ways, she would be able to get an accurate indication of their power. However with dueling ability, the only way she would know is threw their conquests, and seeing as she can't compare their era to her's in regards to dueling ability, it means jack.
It would kind of be like researching into the past, and finding out that Mr. X was able to defeat Mr. Y and Mr. Z in a sword battle. You would still have no idea how skilled Mr. X was, because you would have no clue as to how skilled Mr. Y or Mr. Z were. Makes sense?