You're mixing things up needlessly. Knowing to write and writing well are different things. They're obviously connected things, but they're not interchangeable. Same with weaves. The Foresaken have a wider base of knowledge than someone like Egwene. But that's distinct from how well they can perform the weaves they know.

That's where I disagree. Strength is only one aspect. Just because someone is stronger by a little doesn't mean the duels are a write-off.

Fair enough, on not mixing Egwene with Egwene-level.

You're not getting my point. Of course Demandred at 5x can win. The issue at hand is that even with only somewhat less skill than Rand, 5x strength isn't enough to guarantee Demandred's victory. To use your point from above, if you are laying bets on a winner Rand is NOT the long shot everytime, even if he's five times weaker than Demandred+angreal. What does this say about Egwene, who's more than 2/3rds as strong the Foresaken? Does she need an enormous skill boos to beat them? No. Since the strength gap between her and the Foresaken is less than between Rand and boosted Demandred, the increased skill she would need to display to be a challenge is also lower. In fact, at her strength level, if she's very skilled, and someone like Graendal faces her and is equally skilled, she'd still be a major threat. Graendal would obviously have some added strength as a bonus, but never enough to be one sided.

That also explains why Granedal feels that even with her weak angreal, any of her opponents will only be surprised, not overwhelmed. Even if it boosts her to 1.5x her strength, that gap is still more than between Egwene and the Foresaken. It still isn't enough to let her win without struggle.